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Media Contacts:
Dr. John David Smith, 919/515-3715 or [email protected]
Sara Frisch, News Services, 919/515-3470 or [email protected]
Jan. 18, 2000
African-American Race Traitor 'Black Judas' Revealed in Biography
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
African-American history has chosen to forget about William Hannibal Thomas.
A free mulatto who fought with distinction for the Union in the Civil War, Thomas later became one of his time's most outspoken critics of the black race. He published a scathing attack in 1901 titled The American Negro and drew fire from prominent African-American reformers for turning against his own race. They called him "Black Judas." At the same time, conservative whites praised his so-called insider's view.
Complex, controversial and enigmatic, Thomas was at the center of discussions on race at the beginning of the 20th century. Yet 100 years later, he's generally been left behind by historians.
A new book by North Carolina State University historian Dr. John David Smith aims to change that, and to shed new light on Thomas and his significant influence on the nation's racial debate.
In Black Judas: William Hannibal Thomas and The American Negro, published this month by The University of Georgia Press, Smith crafts the first-ever biography of Thomas and traces the history of Thomas' most famous literary work. Smith is the Graduate Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at NC State and a specialist in the Civil War and the history of race relations.
Uncovering the life of Thomas took Smith 15 years of historical detective work.
Thomas became one of the most anti-black authors in American history, Smith says. "Though we find Thomas' voice discordant and his ideas disturbing, he nevertheless contributed to the dialogue of race relations during the violent and fearful age of segregation," he adds.
Thomas is an important figure because he illustrates the diversity and complexity of the African-American experience, Smith says. Understanding Thomas gives us insight into those who go against the grain, he says, and contributes to the process of de-romanticizing black history.
Thomas always identified with and lived among blacks, even though he believed in a mulatto leadership elite, Smith explains. "He created a color line between Negroes and mulattoes in his book," he says. "Thomas had his own hierarchy. It was character, not color, that differentiated people."
When The American Negro was issued by a major American publisher, it received front-page reviews in established newspapers like The New York Times. In the book, Thomas was particularly critical of black women, and said the black family was incapable of functioning. Black educators and preachers were immoral and corrupt, he wrote. Thomas encouraged blacks to model themselves after noteworthy mulatto leaders like himself. He praised slavery for structuring black life and argued that blacks weren't ready for emancipation.
Although Thomas' earlier writings had been constructively critical, his tone in The American Negro was racist, pessimistic and angry, Smith says. "Thomas overstated his point severely and lost credibility," he says.
At the time of publication, the book served as a rallying cry for the black community. Prominent black leaders, such as Booker T. Washington, discredited Thomas by revealing past indiscretions in his personal and professional life. They attacked "Black Judas" in print and worked to keep him from publishing further. After the public uproar ended, Thomas withdrew from society.
Smith says Thomas has been left out of African-American history partly because he was such a difficult personality to research and analyze. Thomas moved frequently, wrote under various pen names, and left few papers and documents. Moreover, Thomas was confused by his contemporaries and by historians for 19 other men with similar names and profiles. "William Hannibal Thomas covered his tracks and didn't want anyone to know his story," Smith says.
Although Thomas' lasting reputation is as a race traitor, he had spent 30 years at the center of black affairs as a student, teacher, soldier, preacher, politician and writer throughout the United States. Thomas had professional success in fields such as politics, the church and journalism. But his achievements were continually undermined, Smith argues, by a self-destructive personality and run-ins with authority.
A series of physically and psychologically traumatic events made Thomas a bitter and anti-social person, Smith says. After integrating Ohio's Otterbein College as its first black student, Thomas was asked to leave in 1859 because of a racial disturbance his presence caused. Two years later, he was refused entry to the Union Army because of his skin color.
Eventually, Thomas fought in the Civil War with the U.S. Colored Troops. At the second battle of Fort Fisher in 1865, he was shot, and his right arm was amputated. The amputation, Smith explains, left Thomas suffering for years. Unable to wear a prosthesis, Thomas became hypercritical, hypersensitive, pessimistic, gloomy, self-confident and not balanced.
Afterward, Thomas repeatedly positioned himself in difficult situations and escaped from them by disappearing and assuming a new life elsewhere. Smith says, "The book was his final act of self-destruction."
--frisch--
NOTE TO EDITORS: A photo of William Hannibal Thomas is available by e-mail by calling NC State News Services, (919) 515-3470.
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