Mathilde Anneke's Stories of Slavery in the German-American Press

Abstract

German-Americans of nineteenth century, obviously reached a considerably larger number of readers than any fiction in book form. Labeled and categorized as trivial literature, lacking esthetic standards that warrant scholarly investigation, newspaper stories have rarely attracted literary historians. Yet, I fully agree with Peter Merrill who points to the importance of newspaper research for study of German-American belletristic prose, and relevance of current research on serialized novel to German-American studies.' For authors of newspaper stories, their writings fulfilled a dual purpose: they offered entertainment and they provided propaganda for political purposes. With arrival of Forty-eighters in America, a sudden and tremendous growth of German newspapers in United States occurred. The German Forty-eighters were refugees of unsuccessful revolution of 1848-49 which attempted to throw off yoke of feudalism and establish liberty, equality, and justice for all. A large number of Forty-eighters consisted of liberal intellectuals, lawyers, doctors, teachers, and officers. Many of them turned to journalism with hope of keeping spirit of revolution alive in both old country and in new homeland. After their arrival in United States, they soon recognized inconsistency between American dream of liberty and justice for all, and realities of social and political life. Many writers made it their objective to crusade against social injustices in this country, particularly against slavery, just as they previously fought against privileges of aristocracy and against oppression of common man. The overwhelming majority of writers depicted slavery as an evil, with intention of drawing sympathies of reader to side of slaves and raising sympathies of their fellow countrymen for abolition. It is, therefore, not surprising that most passionate German writings MELUS, Volume 6, No. 4, Winter 1979