satisfactory information shall be received that it has in successful
operation a civil government capable of performing the duties and
fulfilling the obligations of an independent power.--_Journal of the
Senate_, July 1, 1836.

THREE NEGRO POETS: HORTON, MRS. HARPER, AND WHITMAN[477]

With the exception of a few noteworthy individuals, conscious literary
effort on the part of the Negro in America is, of course, a matter of
comparatively recent years. Decades before Emancipation, however,
there were those who yearned toward poetry as a means of artistic
expression, and sought in this form to give vent to their groping,
their striving, and their sorrow. Handicapped as they were, scores of
these black bards must forever remain unknown. Even after the Civil
War those who had gifts were frequently held back by insufficient
education or the lack of other advantages of culture. At least three
persons, however, in the long period between Phillis Wheatley and Paul
Dunbar, deserve not wholly to pass unnoticed. These were George Moses
Horton, Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Albery A. Whitman. Each
one of these poets had faults and even severe limitations as an
artist. Each one had also, however, a spark of the divine fire that
occasionally even kindled a flame.

George M. Horton was born a slave in Chatham County, North Carolina,
in 1797. Later he became the property of one Hall Horton, son of
James, who, from all accounts, was a very hard master. George,
however, was permitted to hire his time out at Chapel Hill, the seat
of the University of North Carolina, where by some accounts he
received twenty-five cents a day for his labor, by others fifty cents.
He was very ambitious. He was fond of the melodies and hymns sung at
campmeetings, and learned to read largely by matching the words he
knew in the hymnal to those in a spelling-book. Many people of
distinction became interested in his abilities; several legends exist
as to his instructors; and Dr. Caldwell, president of the University,
was for some years a special patron. George's earliest poetical
compositions, however, had to be written down for him by other people.
His work was infused with his desire for freedom, and much of it was
suggested by the common evangelical hymns, as were the following
lines:

Alas! and am I born for this,
To wear this slavish chain?
Deprived of all created bliss,
Through hardship, toil, and pain?

How