Martin R. Delany’s
Blake; or, The Huts of America(1859-1862) is one of the earliest novels written by an African American and the most radical work in the category of pre-Civil War Black fiction. Though it went largely unnoticed during the period of its initial serial publication and did not appear in book form until 1970, it is now recognized as a uniquely powerful cultural document from a writer often called “the Father of Black nationalism”.
The novel’s protagonist is Henry Blake, a free-born Cuban of African descent who is forced into slavery in the 1840s. Radicalized by the soul-crushing abuses of a white supremacist social order, Blake flees a Mississippi plantation and journeys through the Southern United States, interviewing slaves and agitating for an insurrection. He
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Citation: Chura, Patrick. "Blake: or, The Huts of America". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6293, accessed 21 November 2024.]
