[Alternate Mondays] No Ethiopia

[princeofcairo]

Time for another experiment, as I have grown fizzy with alternate history recently. So until I (or you) get bored, I'll be doing something on LJ on Alternate Mondays. Might be a review of an AH book or website, might be a pointer, might be a full-fledged AH based on something I've been reading

Comments

on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[samedietc]

One thing, Ken: while Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE serial might seem like an entry in the SFnal tradition of "Ethiopia Triumphant," I want to point out that all of Schuyler's black heroes are African-AMERICANS; and also, while the first series (THE BLACK INTERNATIONALE) is largely about defeating European powers, the second (BLACK EMPIRE) is largely about reforming Africa--by any means necessary. I mean, after all, there's a scene where the African-American army has to beat a tribe of African cannibals, a scene which fits not so much with the "Ethiopia Triumphant" tradition and more with the "Great White Hunter" tradition.

(In its own way, BLACK EMPIRE seems more like TARZAN, except where Tarzan uses his white (and I'd argue, American*) body to conquer Africa, Belsidus from BLACK EMPIRE uses (American) technology to conquer Africa--not Africa for Africans, but Africa for African-Americans. Or, in other words, the story isn't about a triumphant black nation, but about an extension of an American Empire.**)

*Tarzan is British, but I would argue that the story shows how an Englishman, confronted by the frontier, becomes an American. I mean, he invents the lasso! What's more American than that?

**Schuyler actually wrote a few serials in the Pittsburgh Courier about new African nations/kingdoms and the leader turns out to pretty much always be American and tech-savvy.

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[ratmmjess]

Dr. Belsidus in Black Internationale is from "Spanish Guinea," IIRC, and Saddiu Mattchu in "The Ethiopian Murder Mystery" is Ethiopian.

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[samedietc]

re: the Americans in BI/BE:

I'm not sure that we ever learn where Belsidus is from--or at least, I can't remember it/find it in my notes--but you might be thinking of Juan Torlier, the aerospace engineer, who is from Spanish Guinea (p44); and there are other examples of named characters* being International rather than American (e.g., Gustave Linke is French).

But in any given list of the named characters, Americans dominate (if I'm right about who is American, which I might be wrong about--I might misremember, and some of the characters don't have nationalities/histories given):

p.139: “There were Sam Hamilton [A], Al Fortune [A], Gustave Linke [I], Dr. Matson [A], Rev. Samson Binks [A], Ransom Just [A], Pat [A], Juan Torlier [I], Bennie Simpson [A], Alex Fletcher [A], Sanford Mates [A], Gaston Nucklett [A], Martha Gaskin [A], General McNeel [A], myself [A]..." and I'll add the mute Jim [A].

American: 14
International: 2

Even if we just take the ones we can reasonably be sure of--Nucklett and Binks both speak in American idioms (Nucklett leads a racist organization and Binks runs the church); Fortune and Jim are both victims of American oppression; McNeel is a veteran of two American wars; the narrator Slater and Pat and white Martha Gaskin are all Americans--that still gives us:

American: 8
International: 2
Unknown: 4

That's pretty heavily American, I think.

*I'm only interested in the named characters because we spend more time with them; in other words, they are the face of the Black Internationale/Black Empire.

re: Schuyler's other serials: I was primarily thinking of Dr. Cranfield from "Strange Valley"--but unfortunately, that's the only one I made a note of, when I was scanning through the Courier. As for his Ethiopian stories, the part I remember most (of course I remember it most, it fits my thesis best!) is when the Princess in "Revolt in Ethiopia" notes that American Negroes, because they're American, are the most progressive in the world.

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[ratmmjess]

I'm working off my notes as well, so I could be wrong about Belsidus, lord knows.

I've got entries for, I think, six or seven of Schuyler's characters in my encyclopedia. All but Mattchu and (maybe) Belsidus are American. So I think you're point is generally solid, yeah. (Mattchu's far and away the most interesting to me of the group).

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[samedietc]

and, to be fair to us & our notes, Schuyler's writing-to-deadline does leave some holes and contradictions, so I'm not going to blame us too much if we're wrong.

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[princeofcairo]

I will never argue with someone who claims Tarzan is an American. :^)

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[samedietc]

Englishman + frontier = "becomes an American."

I think the math on that formula is pretty solid.

Re: on Schuyler's BLACK EMPIRE

[samedietc]

(and on further reflection, we could look at Owen Wister's work--fiction and especially his essay on the cowboy as modern-day knight--for more on the American imagination around the turn of the century for the idea of "frontier + Anglo-Saxon nobility = American!"

(in fact, the only writer who comes to mind as being aware of the ridiculousness of that is Mark Twain, who goes about skewering that idea by skewering the idea of the knight--they're not rough-and-tumble heroes who do what's right, they're "iron dudes.")