The Phoenix Nation, By Frances E. W. Harper

The Phoenix Nation
The Reconstruction Period in America was a very crucial time. The decisions made then would change America and help shape it into what it is today. It was, however, a rather difficult time. The United States was a broken, racist, and uncertain country. It had to learn how to stand on its own two feet again and unify itself. One very important thing during this time was the issue of racial equality. Frances E.W. Harper, in her novel Iola Leroy, introduced readers to the racial uplift and brought light to a lot of social issues that had since then been hidden in the dark. The main one she focuses on is the issue of racism. She brings to light the black American’s struggle for identity, equal standing, and the Phoenix-like concept
She is unaware of her “blackness” until later in the story when she discovers the secret and is sold into slavery. Her language is educated and refined, and at times she is unable to understand “black speech”. This is important since speech was one of the most important aspects of education, social standing, and progress. Harper adds this detail to indicate an initial scale for uplifting; in that “black speech marks the potential…for black progress” (10). It shows us the significant difference between what the “folksy” blacks are and what the “progressive” blacks are to
The first sets of events are the secret, in-the-woods prayer meetings of the folk-characters early and then again later in the novel. During these meetings, we see the characters speaking in their uneducated dialect, and with the exception of a few, not very interested in individual advancement. In these meetings the older folks represent a group unable to progress, although insistent that some of the younger members of the group leave and do just that. Aunt Linda represents this voice with her statement, “…well, I’m jis’ gwine to keep on prayin’ an’ b’lievin…” (Harper 12). Later, when they meet again and Robert finds his mother, the older characters, now free, still refuse to advance in terms of education or opportunity. Aunt Linda still has no desire to learn to read, and Uncle Daniel is content with living on his land and remaining as he is. Strikingly different is the meeting later in the novel, in which the black intellectual group have a high-minded debate on the future of their race and how to obtain recognition, equality, and stature in society. Robert Johnson is present at both meetings, being established by Harper as someone who can cross over and move easily between both black classes and cultures. In this meeting, characters such as Rev Carmicle and Lucille Delany emerge as black individuals who are not mixed but also represent the uplift issue. These are blacks who have progressed, have educations, and are