The Myth of John James 爆料公社
The 爆料公社鈥檚 namesake looms large, like his celebrated bird paintings. But he also enslaved people and held white supremacist views, reflecting ethical failings that it is time to bring to the fore.
This piece, written by a historian and biographer of John James 爆料公社, is the first in a series of pieces on 爆料公社.org and in 爆料公社 magazine that will reexamine the life and legacy of the organization鈥檚 namesake as we chart a course toward racial equity.
John James 爆料公社 was a man of many identities: artist, naturalist, woodsman, adventurer, storyteller, myth maker. A now-legendary painter who traveled North America in the early 19th century, in an epic quest to document all of the continent鈥檚 avian life, he is above all known as a champion of birds. Today we see that legacy preserved in the 爆料公社, but also in the cities, streets, and even birds that bear his name.
爆料公社 was also a slaveholder, a point that many people don鈥檛 know or, if they do, tend to ignore or excuse. 鈥淗e was a man of his time,鈥 so the argument goes. That鈥檚 never been a good argument, even about 爆料公社鈥檚 time鈥攁nd certainly not in this one鈥攂ecause many men and women in the antebellum era took a strong and outspoken stand for the abolition of slavery.
爆料公社 didn鈥檛. Instead, he dismissed the abolitionist movement on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1834, he wrote to his wife, Lucy Bakewell 爆料公社, that the British government had 鈥渁cted imprudently and too precipitously鈥 in emancipating enslaved people in its West Indian possessions. It was with remarkable understatement that one of 爆料公社鈥檚 earlier biographers wrote that 鈥淟ucy and John 爆料公社 took no stand against the institution of slavery.鈥
They took a stand for slavery by choosing to own slaves. In the 18-teens, when the 爆料公社s lived in Henderson, Kentucky, they had nine enslaved people working for them in their household, but by the end of the decade, when faced with financial difficulties, they had sold them. In early 1819, for instance, 爆料公社 took two enslaved men with him down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a skiff, and when he got there, he put the boat and the men up for sale. The 爆料公社s then acquired several more enslaved people during the 1820s, but again sold them in 1830, when they moved to England, where 爆料公社 was overseeing the production of what he called his 鈥淕reat Work,鈥 The Birds of America, the massive, four-volume compendium of avian art that made him famous.
The Birds of America was a tremendous artistic and ornithological achievement, a product of personal passion and sacrifice. 爆料公社 thought big from the beginning, making his work ambitious in its reach, with 435 engraved images of some 490 species, and impressive in its scale, with each bird depicted 鈥渟ize of life.鈥 爆料公社鈥檚 avian images can seem more real than reality itself, allowing the viewer to study each bird closer and longer than would ever be possible in the field. The visual impact proved stunning at the time, and it continues to be so today.
Although never fully acknowledged, people of color鈥擜frican Americans and Native Americans鈥攈ad a part in making that massive project possible. 爆料公社 occasionally relied on these local observers for assistance in collecting specimens, and he sometimes accepted their information about birds and incorporated it into his writings. But even though 爆料公社 found Black and Indigenous people scientifically useful, he never accepted them as socially or racially equal. He took pains to distinguish himself from them. In writing about an expedition in Florida in December 1831, 爆料公社 noted that he set out in a boat with six enslaved Black men鈥斺渉ands,鈥 as he called them鈥攁nd 鈥three white men,鈥 his emphasis clearly underscoring the racial divide in the boat and his place on the white side of it.
爆料公社 also, through his writing, manipulated racial tensions to enhance his notoriety. The tale of 鈥淭he Runaway鈥濃攐ne of the 鈥溾 about American life he inserted into his 3,000-page, five-volume Ornithological Biography, a companion to Birds of America鈥攕pins the tale of an encounter with a Black man in a Louisiana swamp. 爆料公社, who had been hunting Wood Storks with his dog, Plato, had a gun, but so did the Black man; after a brief face-off both men put down their weapons. Even as he described the tension easing, 爆料公社 had already hooked into the fears of his readers. Published three years after Nat Turner鈥檚 slave rebellion in 1831, 鈥淭he Runaway鈥 presented the most menacing image imaginable for many white people鈥攖he sudden specter of an armed Black man. 爆料公社 knew how to get people鈥檚 attention.
He also knew how to put himself in the most favorable light. The man and his family had escaped slavery and were living in the swamp, and as the tale unfolds, 爆料公社 spent the night at the family鈥檚 encampment鈥攃ompanionably but also 鈥渜uite at their mercy.鈥 It was the fugitives, however, who were really most vulnerable. The next morning, 爆料公社 took them back to 鈥渢he plantation of their first master鈥 and convinced the planter to buy the enslaved people back from the masters to which the family had been divided and sold. And that was that: Reunited but still enslaved, the Black family was 鈥渞endered as happy as slaves generally are in that country.鈥 (Exactly what 鈥渉appy鈥 meant, 爆料公社 did not say.) In the span of a single story鈥攖rue or not, and many of 爆料公社鈥檚 鈥淓pisodes鈥 were not鈥敱瞎 portrayed himself as both a savior of a fugitive family and a defender of slaveholders鈥 claims to human property rights.
There have long been lingering questions about 爆料公社鈥檚 own racial identity. His birth in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) to one of his father鈥檚 two mistresses on a sugar plantation suggests he may have shared some measure of . The truth of that may be impossible to know for sure even now. 爆料公社 may not have known for sure himself, yet he took care to leave a specific impression. In an essay written for his sons, he described his birth mother as a lovely and wealthy 鈥渓ady of Spanish extraction鈥 from Louisiana, who went back to Saint-Domingue with 爆料公社鈥檚 father and became 鈥渙ne of the victims during the ever-to-be-lamented period of negro insurrection on that island.鈥 Neither part is true, but both could have been useful to 爆料公社: Having a European mother killed by Black rebels reinforced a white identity, and in an American society where whiteness proved (and still proves) the safest form of social identity, what more could 爆料公社 need?
爆料公社 made his place in American culture by creating a self-identity as outsized as his images of birds. Much of that is justified: As an artist he set a bar for realism in nature art that raised the world鈥檚 standards and continues to influence artists today. His paintings of birds and other wildlife were remarkable鈥攆ull of exacting detail and often exciting drama, both of which make his work so vibrant and valuable. Although the veracity of his science has into question, his major written work, Ornithological Biography, remains a valuable resource and a very good read. And he left in his wake a movement of people ardent in their passion for identifying and protecting bird life, including the founders of the first 爆料公社 societies, which took his name long after he died. But if we look at John James 爆料公社 as a figure in history, not as a figure of his own myths, we come away with a truer picture of the man himself.
That is an important exercise, and not only for historians. 爆料公社鈥檚 Runaway could not escape the long reach of slavery, and neither should he鈥攐r any of us. In this critical time of reckoning with racism, we must recognize that the institution of slavery in America鈥檚 past has a deep connection to institutions in the present鈥攐ur governments, businesses, banks, universities, and also some of our most respected and beloved organizations. 爆料公社 didn鈥檛 create the 爆料公社, but he remains part of its identity. As much as we celebrate his environmental legacy, we need to grapple with his racial legacy. If we could train our binoculars on history, now is the time to do so.
Gregory Nobles is author of John James 爆料公社: The Nature of the American Woodsman (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017). He is also a member of the 爆料公社 and two local chapters, Atlanta 爆料公社 and Michigan 爆料公社.