Who was "E.K."? Did William Parker really write The Freedman's Story? The story behind the story of escaped slave and militant black activist William Parker
 Share
|
Email
Print
|
Who was "E.K."? Did William Parker really write The Freedman's Story? The story behind the story of escaped slave and militant black activist William Parker
Introduced by a mysterious editor (signing his name only as "E.K." and claiming to have received the manuscript "with the request that I would revise it for publication") the Freedman's Story has always been dogged by questions of authorship.
In the 1890s, two historians (M.G. McDougall and W.H. Siebert) speculated that Parker's story had in fact been written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a frequent Atlantic contributor and antislavery activist. But correspondence in 1899 between Higginson and a journalist named W.U. Hensel who was working on an account of the Christiana Riot, makes clear that Higginson in fact knew few details about the event.
Later evidence suggests that the narrative represents a group effort by four black men at the office of The Provincial Freeman (a black newspaper based in Chatham, Canada), working closely with Parker to document his story. Diary entries by The Provincial Freeman's co-editor and publisher, Israel D. Shadd, make reference to work on the piece, along with the names of his co-authors. "These and other details," writes historian Jonathan Katz in his book Resistance at Christiana, "indicate that William Parker's story may be safely accepted as the authentic narrative of an early militant black leader."
As for "E.K.," the editor who served as an intermediary with the Atlantic, those initials are believed to have stood for "Edmund Kirke," the pen name of frequent Atlantic contributor and pro-Union activist James Gilmore.
David H. Freedman on smartphone apps and the perfected self, Mark Bowden on being in the dumb kids' class, James Parker on Glenn Beck, Isaac Chotiner on P. G. Wodehouse, and more
Browse back issues of The Atlantic that have appeared on the Web. From September 1995 to the present, the archive is essentially complete, with the exception of a few articles, the online rights to which are held exclusively by the authors.
See All Back Issues: September 1995
Romney Wins the Coveted Reagan Endorsement
Report: Obama Ordered Cyber Attacks on Iran
Google Spent More Than $9.25 Million Just Applying for Top-Level Domains
A Tourist Guide for Your City's Mundane, Obscure Attractions
The States With the Most Economic Mobility
Why a Good Bar Is Essential to Sustainable Communities
Alter Ego 
The 100 Greatest Quotes in 'The Wire' 
Synthetic Biology 
Join the Discussion
After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus