19世纪纽约黑人聚居区

While many Americans are familiar with black slavery in the South during the 19th Century and its role in igniting the nation’s great Civil War, less attention has been paid to the black experience in northern cities such as New York, where so-called "freedmen" lived.

很多美国人都熟知19世纪美国南方的黑奴制，以及奴隶制在引发美国内战方面所起的作用。相对而言，注意黑人在北方城市如纽约市的生活情况的人就比较少一些。很多逃跑的黑奴以及所谓的“自由人”住在纽约市。

Now, a new book, "Black Gotham," by University of Maryland Professor Carla Peterson, shines a light on their remarkable stories.

有一本题为《纽约黑人聚居区》的新书介绍了黑人在那里的精彩历史。

Much of the history of black 19th-Century New York has been lost, in part because it was eclipsed in the popular imagination by the saga of southern slavery. Additionally, mostly-white academic historians minimized the contributions of African-Americans. And no comprehensive archive of black life existed until the 20th Century, when the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture was established.

19世纪黑人在纽约的历史大部分都散失了。好几种原因造成了这种情况。南方的奴隶制引人注目，纽约的黑人被忽略了。另外，专业研究历史的人大都是白人，对非洲裔美国人的贡献轻描淡写。黑人历史的全面完整的档案直到20世纪才出现。

Peterson's ancestors were distinguished members of the city’s black elite and she felt theirs was a powerful story that needed to be told. She spent 11 years researching and writing her book.

马里兰大学教授卡拉·彼德森是《纽约黑人聚居区》一书的作者。她的祖先就是纽约市黑人上层社会的成员。她认为纽约黑人的历史十分精彩，应当让人们了解。她为写这本书花了11年的时间搜集材料。

"Writing this book was very important to me," says Peterson. "It was a journey of hard work, but also of love and passion."

她说：“写这本书对我十分重要。写这本书是艰苦劳动的旅程，但也是爱和激情的旅程。”

Led by free blacks such as clergyman Alexander Crummell, newspaper editor Charles Ray and businessman George Downing, members of New York’s black elite tried to establish themselves as full Americans, not merely as "Africans" or "coloreds" as black slaves had once been called and called themselves.

在自由的黑人如牧师亚历山大·克伦梅尔、报纸编辑查尔斯·雷和商界人士乔治·唐宁的领导下，纽约黑人精英阶层试图为自己赢得全面的美国人身份，而不仅仅是“非洲人”或者是“有色人种”。

Like members of outsider groups before and since, this African-American elite considered education to be the key to full citizenship. They also embraced values of character and responsibility.

跟先前的和以后的团体一样，这个黑人精英阶层认为，教育是获得全面公民身份的关键。

"A good, upright moral citizen, valuing temperance, a Protestant ethic of hard work, sobriety and all those kinds of inner values. Respectability then is the outward manifestation of character," says Peterson. "It’s in your appearance, how you dress, how you comport yourself, especially when you’re out on the streets of New York, and especially with whites. No loud, boisterous behavior but being utterly respectable and respectful."

彼德森教授说：“除此之外，还有我所说的人品和尊严等价值。人品是不问种族的，是一个人内在的东西，跟肤色和民族没有关系，是一个人的本质：你必须是一个正直的、讲道德的好公民，珍视节制，拥有刻苦工作的新教伦理，不酗酒，需要这些内在的品质。尊严则是人品的外在表现，比如你的穿着，你的风度，你走在纽约的大街上、跟白人在一起时风度如何。不大声喧哗，行为得体，令人尊敬，也尊敬别人。”

That didn’t mean the status quo went unchallenged. Peterson's book describes salon-style meetings in the back of James McCune Smith’s pharmacy. Smith, who was one of antebellum New York’s most important black leaders, hosted lively debates about voting rights for blacks and the abolition of slavery.

但这一切并不意味着当时纽约的黑人精英阶层没有对当时的状况提出挑战。彼德森的书描述了詹姆斯·麦克库恩·史密斯药房里屋的沙龙聚会。史密斯是南北战争之前纽约最重要的黑人领袖之一。他主持了有关黑人投票权和废除奴隶制问题的生动活泼的辩论。Alliances with whites were often forged. And like white New Yorkers, many in "Black Gotham" also wanted to be rich - but success could be fleeting.

当时的黑人也常常跟白人结盟。和纽约白人一样，很多黑人聚居区里的人也追求发财致富。彼德森指出，他们追求财富和社会地位平等，得到的结果捉摸不定。

"You see black New Yorkers make tremendous gains and then lose. Gains in terms of entrepreneurship, finding a trade, finding a profession, setting down roots, buying property, and feeling they were at last becoming a genuine part of city life. They would refer to ‘color-phobia’ as ‘fast disappearing in our city.’ But then there would be a loss."

她说：“你们看到纽约的黑人获得了很大的成果，然后又损失掉他们的所获。在创业、找到谋生行当、找到职业、落地生根、买房置地，感觉到他们终于真正地融入纽约生活方面，他们是取得了收获。他们认为仇视黑人的态度在纽约迅速消失。但后来又出现了倒退。”

Racial violence was also an issue. Peterson cites a riot in 1834, which began in a chapel where both black and white choirs were scheduled to rehearse at the same time.

"And the white choir went nuts. It was only a pretext, but a race riot broke out, and a lot of black property was damaged. Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church, which was the church of my family, was desecrated."

The Draft Riots of July 1863, during the height of the Civil War, were an especially low point in the history of black New York. When President Abraham Lincoln instituted a military draft, many immigrants, especially the Irish, thought they were being asked to fight and perhaps to die in a war being waged for the benefit of blacks. Angry mobs set out to destroy the dwellings and businesses of the city’s prosperous African-Americans.

1863年，在美国内战最激烈的时候发生的征兵骚乱是纽约黑人历史上的低潮。林肯总统下令征兵。而很多移民，尤其是爱尔兰移民，认为自己是被要求在一场为黑人、而不是为他们自己谋福利的战争中送死。一些暴民于是开始捣毁纽约市一些富裕黑人的住宅和商店。

But there was also some goodwill between the races. Peterson's great grandfather owned a pharmacy in a largely Irish neighborhood. He was known as a kind man who gave free medicine and clothes to the poor.

但彼德森教授说，纽约的黑人和白人之间也有善意。她的曾祖父在一个以爱尔兰人为主的地区开了一家药店，免费送给穷人药品和衣物，被公认为是一个好人。

"So they came to see him as a pillar of the community. So at the time of the Draft Riots he was warned to leave. A group of white merchants in the area came to him and said ‘You’d better get out. Your pharmacy is going to be attacked.’ And he said, ‘As many men who are going to come and attack me, there will be as many who come to defend me.’ And that is exactly what happened. His Irish neighbors protected his pharmacy."

彼德森说：“人们就把他看作是社区的中坚。因此，在征兵骚乱发生的时候，有人给他通风报信，让他离开。一些白人商人跟他说，你赶紧走吧，有人要来攻击你的药店。他说，有多少人攻击我，就会有多少人来保护我。结果真的是这样。他的爱尔兰邻居把他的药店保护了下来。”

Then as now, New York was an ethnic melting pot, and Peterson says many black New Yorkers saw themselves as citizens of the world. Her own ancestors had roots in England, Haiti, Jamaica, Venezuela, American Indian territory as well as Africa.

当时的纽约市跟现在一样是一个民族大熔炉。彼德森说，很多纽约黑人自认为是世界公民。她自己的祖先就来自英国、海地、牙买加、委内瑞拉、美洲印第安人部落区，以及非洲。

She points out that more than a century later, many American blacks still lack the educational and economic opportunities that the mainstream enjoys. But Peterson adds that she has been gratified to learn that many black groups are inspired by the struggles and incremental successes of 19th-Century "Black Gotham."

彼德森指出，一个多世纪过去了，很多美国黑人依然没有得到主流社会所得到的教育和经济机会。但是，彼德森表示，她很高兴地获悉，很多黑人团体受到了《纽约黑人聚居区》的奋斗和渐进式成功的鼓舞。