Julia C. Collins (c. 1842 – November 25, 1865), was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popula ...

, who in 1864 and 1865 contributed

essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

and other writings to ''

The Christian Recorder ''The Christian Recorder'' is the official newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States. It has been called "arguably the most powerful black periodic ...

'', a publication of the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

. Starting in January 1865, her novel, ''The Curse of Caste, or the Slave Bride'', was serialized in the pages of the ''Christian Recorder.'' The novel remains unfinished due to the untimely death of its author from

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

. In 2006, William L. Andrews of

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and Mitch Kachun of

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

collected Collins' writings and her unfinished novel and published them, with commentary and notes, through

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Life and literary work

Life

Little is known about Julia Collins' life. Scholars believe she was born a free woman in the North, though her birth name and birthdate are unknown. Only one African-American woman named "Julia" appears in the 1860

census, a 17-year-old Julia Green who was living with the family of Enoch Gilchrist, a black abolitionist and

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

conductor. It is plausible that the two Julias are the same person, but cannot be verified. Indicating that the author was an educated and well-read Northerner, Collins referenced

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

, and

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

in her essays. What is certainly known about Collins comes directly from references to her in the ''Christian Recorder''. In the issue of April 16, 1864, Enoch Gilchrist announced that Julia Collins was appointed as schoolteacher for the African-American children in Williamsport,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. There was no school building open to African-American children at that time. The school committee authorized a teacher's salary, but the teacher had to provide the materials and space. The school was likely located in the African-American section near the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

and the city's

. It is not known where Collins lived before April 1864. More is known about her husband, Stephen Carlisle Collins. Stephen was born a free man in Pennsylvania and lived in Williamsport. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, he was an officer's servant, before enlisting in the

6th United States Colored Infantry Regiment The 6th United States Colored Infantry Regiment was an African American unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War. A part of the United States Colored Troops, the regiment saw action in Virginia as part of the Richmond–Petersburg Cam ...

. For a period of time after the war, he operated a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

shop in Williamsport and served as commander of the Fribley Post of the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

, a veterans' organization for Civil War soldiers. Barbering and school-teaching were higher-status occupations for African Americans in the 19th century, which meant the Collinses would have been respected and connected in the Williamsport community. Julia Collins died on November 25, 1865. She only became a member of the

on her deathbed. As reported in ''The Christian Recorder'', she left "motherless children", which leads to speculations that she was in her twenties when she died. These children have been identified as Sarah and Annie Collins. Since Stephen was previously married, the eldest daughter Sarah, born around 1858, was likely not Julia Collins’ natural daughter. Born around 1862, Annie was raised by her grandparents after her mother's death. Annie worked as a domestic, married lumberer John L. Caution in 1884, and died suddenly in 1889.

Literary work

The dramatic title Collins gave her novel, ''The Curse of Caste'', or ''The Slave Bride'', is in keeping with the drama of the story she tells. Individual chapters of ''The Curse of Caste'' were published in the weekly ''Christian Recorder'' over a period of eight months in 1865. The story focuses on

racial identity A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

, and the injustices of American

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. The story abruptly ends just as the plot reaches the climax and resolution, as Collins died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in November 1865, leaving the novel unfinished. In 2006,

published the novel, including an introduction and two alternative endings written by the editors Mitch Kachun and William Andrews. In addition to the novel, ''The Curse of Caste'', Collins published six essays in the ''Christian Recorder'' over the course of ten months from April 19, 1864, to January 20, 1865. The essays are titled: "Mental Improvement", "School Teaching", "Intelligent Women", "A Letter from Oswego: Originality of Ideas", "Life is Earnest", and "Memory and Imagination". The first four essays are datelined "Williamsport, Pennsylvania", while the fourth and fifth are datelined " Oswego" and "

Owego, New York Owego is a town in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 18,728 at the 2020 census. The name is derived from the Iroquois word ''Ahwaga'', meaning "where the valley widens". Owego is in the southeastern corner of the coun ...

". The essays convey a message of racial uplift and empowerment to the African-American community.

Literary reception

Mitch Kachun, associate professor of history at

, "rediscovered" ''The Curse of Caste'' while searching through the

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...

collection of the ''Christian Recorder''. Along with colleague William L. Andrews, Kachun argues that the serialized novel is the first novel written by an African-American woman. The pair argue that previous novels written by African-American women – such as ''

Our Nig ''Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black'' is an autobiographical novel by Harriet E. Wilson. First published in 1859, it was rediscovered in 1981 by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and was subsequently reissued with an introduction by Gates (Lon ...

'' (1859) by

Harriet E. Wilson Harriet E. Wilson (March 15, 1825 – June 28, 1900) was an African-American novelist. She was the first African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel '' , or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black'' was ...

and ''

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ''Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself'' is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The ...

'' (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs – are basically

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

. During a presentation at

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, approximately north of ...

, Kachun remarked how it is unusual that Collins' characters are allowed to be married and (briefly) happy in a tumultuous America. Kachun speculated that " ollinsis exploring what could be a happy ending, an empowering ending, in which marriage and civility are things that African American women can aspire to." A few scholars argue that the statements by Kachun and Andrews are inaccurate and presumptuous.

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

scholar

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Ame ...

counters that many first novels are

autobiographical fiction An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, and that

's ''

'' (which he brought to light in 1982) is the first novel by an African-American woman. Gates also retorts that the book by Collins is not "rediscovered" as he published it in

microfiche Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

form in 1989 as part o
"The Black Periodical Fiction Project".
At Gates' request, Andrews and Kachun added a footnote in the book acknowledging this. Sven Birkerts, a book reviewer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', argues that the "sketchily developed romance" novel is simply not "worthy of the canonically foundational 'first novel by an African-American woman slot. He believes arguing the importance of this unfinished and editorially presumptuous novel takes away from the achievement of vital African-American literary works. No matter the stances on the classification of ''The Curse of Caste'', scholars believe the novel provides significant views on racial identity, interracial romance, hidden African ancestry, and gender ideologies. The story illuminates how racial prejudice persisted across generations and has the power to deprive people of trust social and emotional freedom. Veta Smith Tucker of the ''

African American Review ''African American Review'' (''AAR'') is a scholarly aggregation of essays on African-American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews. The journal has featured writers and cultural c ...

'' states that the lack of knowledge about Collins gives scholars great opportunity for discovery and calls the piecing together of facts "literary archeology". Collins used the vehicle of the ''Christian Recorder'' to share her voice with a broad audience, and Tucker hopes Collins' messages of self-improvement, racial uplift, and gender ideologies resonate with people today. In June 2010, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was installed o
Williamsport’s River Walk
near the presumed site of Collins' home and school, to recognize the importance of her life and work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Julia C. 1842 births 1865 deaths 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American women writers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis African-American abolitionists African-American novelists African-American women writers American women novelists Novelists from Pennsylvania People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania Tuberculosis deaths in Pennsylvania