Readings
1) "Blacks in Russia:
A Historical Perspective" 
2) "Alexander Pushkin  
and Nancy Prince"

Assignments

Alexander Pushkin and Nancy Prince

Alexander Pushkin:"The Negro of Peter the Great" 
Nancy Prince: Diary

Both Pushkin and Prince are writing in the early 1800s in Russia. Alexander Pushkin is already a respected author and prominent figure in the Tsar's court. Pushkin's story is set in the early 1700s when his maternal great grandfather, Abram (or Ibrahim) Hannibal, a black man of African descent, was brought from Europe to Russia by the Tsar (Peter the Great) and eventually given his freedom in exchange for a commitment of lifetime service. Pushkin's African heritage was widely known during his time, and Pushkin himself was very interested in his family background. 

 Nancy Prince, an American, is the wife of a black man, also American, who serves in the Tsar's court. She tells her own story of life in America as a free black woman, her journey to Russia, and her life there. We know very little about her other than what she tells us in her autobiography. 

Pushkin’s "The Negro of Peter the Great" is a fictionalized biography of Ibrahim Hannibal, Pushkin’s great grandfather. The story covers Hannibal’s stay in France and the initial period after his return to Russia. Although its scope clearly suggests a work of major proportions, it remained largely uncompleted at Pushkin's death. None of the completed segments were published in his lifetime. It is significant that Pushkin chose a biographical theme for his first attempt at prose fiction. This work represented one of the earliest depictions of the Negro as a hero in world literature. Regardless of the story’s shortcomings, it was a strikingly bold characterization for its time. In two completed segments, Hannibal comes through as a strong positive figure who has an affair with a countess in France. His first marriage to a Russian woman of noble birth is central to the remaining fragment. That this black character even existed in 1827 is remarkable; that he fares well is more so. 

Note the passage from Hannibal’s farewell to his lover before leaving Paris: 

"Think: ought I to expose you any longer to such agitations and dangers? Why should I endeavor to unite the fate of such a tender, beautiful creature to the miserable fate of a Negro, of a pitiable creature, scare worthy of the name of man?"