Major Delany
Major Delany
This web site is for anyone interested in an overlooked human being who was far ahead of his time and place in American history. This is where the discussion of Martin Delany can begin in earnest.
Martin Delany is most typically portrayed, in thumbnail terms, as "The Malcom X of the 19th century," or "The Father of Black Nationalism." His seminal place in the development of a philosophy of African American economic, intellectual and cultural self reliance is made increasingly clear with new scholarship about him.
What sets Martin Delany most triumphantly apart from most historical figures is his ferocious integrity. His personal life motto was "Act, Act in the Living Present, But Act." Amend that, perhaps, with this equally proven life motto to his life: "Observe, Observe in the Living Present, And Bear Witness."
It must be remembered that Delany scorned and picked fights with corruption, laziness and cowardice in any man or woman regardless of their skin color. Whether it be the first President of Liberia John Roberts, the white abolitionist leadership, or the more obvious southern racist power structure, Delany almost innocently judged the value of everyone and everything by the yardstick of moral rectitude and its appeal to reason and fairness. And he wasn't shy about this. One of his friends commented that if there was an argument over an important principle and there was a gauntlet that needed to be thrown down, Martin Delany was, more often than not, the one that did the throwing.
In fact, Martin Delany has the intriguing distinction of being that rare beacon of truth and outspokenness who was threatened by a racist white mob in Ohio in 1848 AND similarly attacked by an angry black mob in Cainhoy, South Carolina in 1876. As they say: "He must have been doing something right!"
This Web Site gladly answers the regret of W.E.B. DuBois who once wrote of Martin Robison Delany: "His was a magnificent life, yet why is we know so little of him."
This site is designed for the most fluid exploration of information on Delany's life, stressing original writings and where more insight and information can be quickly obtained. It is hoped that teachers recognize the inspiring role model Delany embodies as a lover of education.
Martin Delany was about identity. So this Web Site includes large portions of his writings that delve most deeply into Martin Delany's own deeply personal roots and wellsprings of his selfhood, as he knew them, namely his identification with Freemasonry and his studies into the anicient cultures and heritage that became his own foundation and bedrock.
To try to define Martin Delany only by the culture, politics, and issues of the mid 19th century is almost to try to define Delany merely by the ideas and institutions he vehemently opposed.
Martin Delany was forgotten for a while because he did not affix himself to the white power structure and make the necessary personal compromises for their favor, which, in a way, Frederick Douglass did. He had too many careers and interests to satisfy the steadfast support of any constituency that would proclaim his glory after his death in 1885. His family, besides one son, did little to keep his memory alive, perhaps because they saw little of him in their lifetimes and truely did not know their father. His papers, donated to Wilberforce College in Xenia, Ohio, where he died, were also lost in a catastrophic library fire.
But time had a way of finding this man whose words are for the ages, wonderfully impolitic, incautious, eloquent and reaching for the stars. With that said, please meet Martin Robison Delany.