It is a very interesting question how far the negroes transplanted to
America, who have adopted so many of the habits and ways of thinking of
their white neighbours, are capable of forming a true romantic
attachment, characterised by the various traits described in this work.
I have not been able to find any conclusive evidence on this head; and
should any readers of this book positively know any cases, I should be
greatly obliged if they would forward a detailed account of them to me,
in care of the publisher.
As regards a negro’s capacity for falling in Love with a white woman,
the following interesting communication[1] appeared in the _New York
Nation_, 12th February 1885: “In corroboration of ‘Bill Arp’s’ view,
referred to in No. 1020 of the _Nation_, that negroes, as a race, do not
desire to ‘mix’ with the white race, I may cite a remark recently made
by a negro carpenter to a friend of mine. The latter said to him, as a
village belle passed them on the street, ‘Charles, don’t you think
that’s a very handsome young lady?’ ‘I reckon so,’ he answered
doubtfully, and immediately added, ‘Fact is, boss, us coloured folks
don’t think white ladies handsome; we like ’em coloured the best.’
“Had it been otherwise there would, doubtless, have been innumerable
instances, in the North as well as at the South, of love-longings on the
part of negro men toward girls of the dominant race. Yet during all the
years I have spent in the Southern States, I never knew or heard of any
instances of this kind, and their exceptional character in the North
must be known to all your readers. The hopelessness of such attachments
would, of course, diminish their number; but fancy is always free, and
‘hopeless attachments’ among members of the same race are as common now
as when Petrarch sighed for Laura, and Tasso wrote ‘The throne of Cupid
has an easy stair,’ himself having climbed it uninspired by hope. The
existence of many persons of mixed blood throughout the country affords
no proof that the two races feel toward each other the attraction of
love; for the fathers, in these cases, are almost invariably white, and
the offspring cannot be called ‘love-children,’ but the fruit of mere
passion linked with opportunity.”
Footnote 1:
Signed Sue Harry Clagett.