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By Cordelia

Last night, I had the privilege to listen to Davidson grad, Clint Smith, talk about his experiences with teaching in low-income high schools. After reading the David Waldstreicher article, “Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning, Print Culture, and Confidence in Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century Mid-Atlantic” I was reminded of something Smith mentioned in his talk. He discussed how African-Americans are taught of the same heroism of the founding fathers and patriotism towards the United States as the white students, while the white students are the ones whose ancestors benefitted and who truly continue to benefit today from the actions of the founding fathers. I was reminded of this when Waldstreicher mentioned Benjamin Franklin and the way that he was “appearance-conscious,” thereby slightly excusing his actions in continuously publishing ads in his newspapers requesting the return of runaway slaves. It seems odd to me to deem Ben Franklin “appearance-conscious” and not clarify that that refers to social issues. He was, after all, quite content with opposing the conventional way of things when it came to political issues. Waldstreicher further mentions how Franklin’s print culture “had far more to do with slavery than previously believed” as runaways used their knowledge and skills to change their condition – an ideal that resided deeply with Franklin. Franklin, therefore, appears to only apply intellectual precepts to the white men who can make a difference in the printing or political world.

Although I try to remember that the people of the past should not be judged with the morals of the present, it is difficult to have blatant hypocrisy pointed out by Waldstreicher and to not like Benjamin Franklin a little bit less for it.