There were black pulp writers; there were black writers and artists in comic books in the '40s, such as All-Negro Comics (1947). Yet for much of its history, fantasy fiction was very much dominated by white male writers—and the heroes of these stories were primarily white, with attitudes that had strong holdovers from Colonialist fiction and settings that were either based on European history (The Lord of the Rings, etc.) or images of exotic lands or distant periods of past or future ("The Hyborian Age" of Conan the Barbarian, etc.). Then in 1974, a young African-American writer named Charles Saunders published "M'ji Ya Wazimu (City of Madness)" in the Dark Fantasy magazine—the first episode in what would become his Imaro series, based on an African cultural milieu. Not long after, Saunders also had an essay published: "Die Black Dog! A Look At Racism in Fantasy Literature (1975). In his own words:

I was in my late 20s, and overflowing with ire and brimstone. The essay was something of cri de coeur.

The essay is something of a classic of its kind, although the few times it has seen print have almost always been met with pushback from readers and fans. Still, the opening lines are a very powerful and plainspoken statement of fact that few people can argue with:

For an avid reader of fantasy who happens to be black, the exclamation in the title of this essay pops up far too often for comfort. The genre-relate problems of reader identification and suspension of disbelief become immeasurably magnified with these words, because the ethnic epithets that spew from the mouth of a Conan are all-too-well represented in the grim world of reality. When blatant racism does occur in a fantasy tale, the black reader is rudely jerked from its escapist world. And when the escapism dies, so does the story.

Saunders then goes on to discuss how this pops up in the work of the three leading writers of Weird Tales in the 1930s, whose works were undergoing a revival in the 1970s paperback explosion of fantasy and sword & sorcery: H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. The essay is not really a criticism of the men, but of their fiction, and the isn't demanding equal representation ("Who needs black Hobbits?") but rather asking to bring an awareness that the racial stereotypes which were acceptable in the '30s are not acceptable in the contemporary period.

"Die Black Dog!" is a little dated now—not so much in the general gist of its arguments, but simply because much more about Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith has been published since 1975, so some of his sources are out of date, and two of his targets (L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter) are now dead. There are better biographies, more correspondence, practically all their fiction down to rough drafts and synopses, have all seen print and been pored over by pulp scholars. We have a much better idea today of what these men thought about race, and how they used it in their fiction. Yet for all that study, it took someone like Saunders to actually do something about it, by writing his Imaro stories—to give readers a taste of what fantasy could look like, beyond Tarzan and Elric, Middle Earth and the Hyborian Age.

About a year ago, I did some research that ended up at a strange intersection of Japanese and Black American history. It sprung from a friend`s question: Did Charles Sumner meet the 1860 Japanese delegation to America? I'd been thinking mostly about the Japanese experience of America, but researching this, I learned about what the Japanese visit signified to Americans about race and slavery.

On May 14, 1860, the Japanese delegation arrived in Washington DC to much fanfare, the first time in centuries Japan had sent a mission oversea. Every politician and socialite in DC was falling over themselves to meet the delegation of “Japanese princes” (actually, minor officials of the shogunate, including Oniwaban member Muragaki Norimasa). The rumour was Japan had fabulous wealth that would now flow into American pockets via trade.

On May 17, a reception was held at the White House, the rooms packed with officials and politicians. May 23, the Japanese delegation visited the Capitol to observe a debate in congress. May 25, there was a huge banquet at the White House.The Japanese delegation finally left town for Baltimore on June 8.

The entire time they’d been in DC , crowds had followed their every move. Before sailing home, the delegation continued on to Philadelphia and New York City; the latter tried to outdo the other cities by having a parade in the delegation’s honour.

Now, on June 4, 1860, while the Japanese delegation was still in DC, Charles Sumner gave a speech to the senate, which he later published as a pamphlet entitled “ The Barbarism of Slavery.”

“Under what ordinance of Nature or of Nature’s God is one human being stamped an owner and another stamped a thing?”

Sumner asks in his speech. His opponents, he says, have some very feeble arguments to justify slavery.

The first is the alleged inferiority of the African race; an argument which, while surrendering to Slavery a whole race, leaves it uncertain whether the same principle may not be applied to other races, as to the polished Japanese, who are now the guests of the nation, and even to persons of obvious inferiority in the white race.

That is, He’s calling out pro-slavery apologists on their BS. “So you believe other races are inferior? Want to tell that to our whnoured guests whom you’re fawning over for their elegance?”

So yes, Sumner met the delegation. Furthermore, I learnt Sumner’s remarks here were reflective of some excited discourse among abolitionists, both white and black. You can read an excellent article on this subject: Reactions to the First Japanese Embassy in the United States by Reginald Kearney, which traces reactions in terms of American racism and attitudes towards slavery.

Many blacks and antislavery whites, in the year before the Civil War began, dared to hope that the honor bestowed upon the colored men from across the sea would harbinger a new era in American race relations. The Anglo-African exulted, “the colored people are now in high honor,“ "prejudice against a dark complexion seems to be vanishing.” All the beating of drums, playing of fifes, and waving of handkerchiefs, the writer marveled, were in honor of a few carriages of colored people whose faces he described as “tinged with a very unpopular Blackish-brown.” (pp. 98-99)

Other observers noticed a darker side, with crowds yelling racial slurs at the Japanese ambassadors, three years after the Dred Scott decision.

Horace Greely, [sic] editor and publisher of the New York Herald Tribune , declared that the epithets "there go the niggers,” “monkeys, "and "Japs” were the sentiments of the great heart of the nation as reflected in the Dred Scott decision, which determined that a colored man had no rights that a white man was bound to respect; Japanese were free men of color.” (p. 98)

(“great heart of the nation” of course is sarcastic here. Greeley was an abolitionist.)

Frederick Douglass, the premier black abolitionist, struck a similar note, “We hate ‘niggers’ by a habit which has become second nature and we pour contempt upon all the dark races of men. This hate enters into all our laws, letters, manners, and customs.” Yet, Douglass thought Japanese might have gained valuable insight regarding American society. These children of the sun, he wrote,heard themselves called “niggers! niggers! in a manner which left no doubt that a term of contempt and reproach was applied to them. From this little word of reproach by which they found themselves stigmatized, he reasoned, they had learned more about America institutions than they could have received by years of reading at a distance. That stigmatization formed a bond between blacks and Japanese:

While we would not have any one insulted on account of color, we have perhaps, on the grounds that misery loves company, a little satisfaction in seeing the epithet always insultingly applied to us, extended to persons of such distinction as those who make up this famous [Japanese] Embassy. (p 98)

Unfortunately, Douglass was way too optimistic. What the Japanese embassy actually learnt about race in America is really sad and depressing, namely that the Western world had a strict racial divide and they didn’t want to be on the wrong side of it. The Japanese arrived in the United States finding white people ugly. Within weeks, they were fawning over fair hair and complexions, while disparaging dark skin.

The book As We Saw Them by Masao Miyoshi, devotes some attention to the Japanese conceptions of race, and it's absolutely awful. The Japanese members of the expedition either ignored or eagerly swallowed up explanations of racial hierarchies, and the need for segregation and slavery. (One exception was one of the Duch-speaking translators, who had apparently already been schooled in anti-slavery ideas by the Dutch at Nagasaki.)

Mostly the Japanese mission had no real contact with black Americans, since they spoke no English, and were kept separate. But there's one heart-rending story (set down by one of the head ambassadors) about an interpreter and a black woman in Washington D.C.

Ever since our arrival here, all of us had been giving presents (like fans, pictures, and toys) to children, hotel employees, waiters, and waitresses who had been attending us. Almost everyone had been provided with something by now, and those Americans who owned no Japanese gifts looked almost embarrassed. But it seems that those who had received our presents turned out to be mostly white and attractive people. One day a black woman approached one of our servants who spoke some English, tearfully confiding to him that since Nature had given her a black exterior, she was scorned by everyone and was not lucky enough to be given presents from anybody, and that she hated herself. She also said white people—even children—were getting presents from the Japanese, but she and her people who had such an ugly look received nothing. He felt so sorry for her that he gave her a fan, and she was very grateful. It seems that the whites are beautiful and shrewd and intelligent; and the blacks are ugly and stupid. So the whites always despise the blacks. There are some white-and-black marriages, and their children are between white and black in complexion. (p. 63, As We Saw Them)

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The subject of black pirates is very tenuous and very fraught with misconceptions and romanticizations, but there are a very few indications and cases where it really may have been or certainly was the case. One individual in particular that stands out is a mixed-race buccaneer who called himself Diego el Mulatto (among many other titles) as he terrorized his way across the Spanish Main for much of the 17th century. He was called Diego Lucifer by the Spanish and he commanded a crew of predominantly white Dutchmen.

Diego's full name was probably Diego Martín and he was probably born in about the year 1610 or a few years earlier in Havana, Cuba. He was born to a white Spanish father and a black mother who was doubtless a slave but may have later been freed. Diego seems to have been brought up as his father's legitimate son, but at some point while he was still a minor his father died and he was taken to the town of Campeche in Mexico by his Spanish godfather. His godfather was named Domingo Galván Romero and was the captain of the town's garrison.

At some point while in Campeche, something happened and Diego had a terrible falling out with a Spanish officer named Domingo Rodriguez Calvo. According to the account of Thomas Gage who was an English Dominican priest later captured by Diego, Diego was "most injuriously and wrongly abused, yea and (as I was afterwards informed) whipped him in the Havana." What caused this is unknown and can only be wildly speculated. As a mulatto, Diego would have doubtless faced discrimination and perhaps he tried to claim his father's inheritance but was denied or some such.

At any rate, after this incident Diego fled Havana in a small boat either by himself or possibly with a small gang of companions intending to become pirates. On the coast of Cuba, he quickly came across Dutch privateers possibly led by Hendrick "Lucifer" Jacobszoon and fell in with them. It so happens that Hendrick "Lucifer" was killed in 1627 while capturing several Spanish galleons off the coast of Cuba and a year later the Dutch privateer fleet commanded by Piet Hein and Witte de With captured and plundered almost an entire Spanish treasure fleet off the coast of Cuba. This coincided almost exactly with the time that Diego escaped from Havana and joined them, and it's very possible that he proved himself to be very brave and competent and a good leader in these engagements. Something like that must have happened since within just a few years Diego was given personal command of not one but two Dutch ships as a privateer. It has been speculated that Diego may have been taken under Hendrick Lucifer's wing somehow before he died and this may help explain his speedy rise and his own later adoption of "Lucifer" as a moniker. Benerson Little writes:

Diego's crews were predominantly Dutch, but doubtless included the usual mix of English, French, Portuguese, Africans, mulattos, mestizos, and Native Americans, yet they took orders from him and were proud to serve under him. Pirates had an often hypocritical way of looking at race. They would accept some Africans into their crews, for example, yet sell other Africans as slaves. But above all, they valued the courage and ability that led to plunder. And Diego new how to lead his crews there.

By 1633, Diego captained his two ships in consort with the Dutch privateer Cornelis "Houtebeen (wooden leg)" Jol and together they attacked Campeche. One can speculate that Diego suggested this target not only because of his familiarity with the town but because of his bitter grudge against Domingo Rodriguez Calvo and possibly his godfather Domingo Galván Romero, both of whom were still living there. The buccaneers attacked in the early morning of August 11th, and Diego's godfather who was captain of the local garrison led the town's defense but was killed in the fighting and the town was quickly overrun. Many of the town's inhabitants managed to flee and take refuge inland, including Diego's old enemy Domingo Rodriguez Calvo. Diego is reported to have searched madly for Calvo swearing that he would "cut Rodriguez's ears and nose, but not kill him." When Calvo and the other officials refused to pay the 40,000 Spanish dollars demanded as ransom for the town and prisoners (equivalent to about $2 million today), Diego and Cornelis Jol torched the town and released the prisoners some miles up the coast.

A year later, in 1634, Diego accompanied Dutch and French privateers in their capture of the Caribbean islands of Curacao and Aruba which then became Dutch colonies and bases of privateering. At some point around this time Diego also took a Dutch wife.

In 1636, Diego captured Dona Isabel de Caraveo, the widow of the Spanish governor of Yucatan, while sailing in the Gulf of Campeche. Here Diego showed that he was capable of chivalry despite his fearsome reputation for when he learned there was a lady onboard and who she was, he apparently ordered that she be freed, all her goods returned to her and then taken aboard his own ship to ensure her security. Soon he put Dona Isabela and her retinue safely ashore on a beach on the coast of Campeche. From other accounts known of Diego's personality, this seems to fit. Another reason he did it may have been to gain the trust of the Spaniards.

One of the most revealing accounts of Diego el Mulatto comes from the English Dominican priest Thomas Gage (in the employ of the Spanish) whose ship was captured by him in 1637. Gage writes:

My further thoughts were soon interrupted by the Hollanders who came abord our Frigat with more speed then we desired. Though their Swords, Muskets and Pistols did not a little terrifie, yet we were somewhat comforted when we understood who was their chief Captain and Commander, and hoped for mercy from him, who had been born and brought up amongst the Spaniards, then from the Hollanders, ... The Captain of this Holland ship which took us was a Mulatto, born and bred in Havana, whose mother I saw and spoke with that same year, when the Galeons struck into that Port ... This Mulatto for some wrongs which had been offered unto him from some commanding Spaniards in the Havana, ventured himself desperately in a boat out to the Sea, where were some Holland Ships waiting for a prize, and with Gods help getting unto them, yielded himself to their mercy, which he esteemed far better then that of his own Countrymen, promising to serve them faithfully against his own Nation, which had most injuriously and wrongly abused, yea and (as I was afterwards informed) whipped him in the Havana.

This Mulatto proved so true and faithful in his good services unto the Hollanders, that they esteemed much of him, married him to one of their Nation, and made him Captain of a ship under that brave and gallant Hollander whom the Spaniards then so much feared, and named, Pie de Palo, or Wooden Leg. This famous Mulatto it was that with his Sea Soldiers borded our Frigat.... (Gage, 428)

Gage goes on to recount how Diego robbed about 7,000 pieces of eight worth of money and goods from him (something like $350,000 today) which was the small fortune he had amassed during all of his ten years spent working for the Spanish as a Dominican priest in Mexico. When the much aggrieved Gage protested, Diego replied "Oy per mi, manana per ti" or "Today for me, tomorrow for you." He, however, returned to Gage his books, paintings, blankets and clothes. Diego and his crew then set about rummaging the ship for food to eat and "the good Captain made a stately dinner in our Frigat, and invited me unto it." They then dined together and when Diego learned Gage was sailing to Havana he drank a toast to his mother and asked Gage to tell her to "remember him unto her, and how that for her sake he had used me well and courteously in what he could; and further at Table he said that for my sake he would give us our Frigat that we might return again [to Spain]."

After dinner, Gage secretly told Diego that he wasn't really a Spaniard but an Englishman and tried to use this to argue he should be given his money back, but Diego "told me I must suffer with those amongst whom I was found, and that I might as well claim all the goods in the ship for mine." Gage then tried to get Diego to take him with him to Holland or England which Diego "also refused to do, telling me that he went about from one place to another, and knew not when he should go to Holland, and that he was ready to fight with any Spanish ship, and if he should fight with the Spaniards whilst I was in his ship, his soldiers in their hot blood might be ready to do me a mischief" (Gage, 430).

I can't remember how I got here -- spitballing answers for a question about the influence of doctrines of predestination on European understandings of race, maybe? -- but I got my hands on Craig Koslofsky's "Knowing Skin in Early Modern Europe, c. 1450-1750" and it has a really interesting look at the nascent Early Modern understanding of racial difference and blackness.

I'm racking my brains trying to identify a specific historical figure I wanted to talk about in this thread before realizing I completely forgot not only his name but also the specific religious order he was affiliated with, so basically all my brain's left me with is "black??? + Catholic + Early Modern + NOT ST. PETER CLAVER".

On the topic of black Catholics (not Early Modern ones) there's a wonderful episode of Baltimore: The Rise Of Charm City on the first community of black nuns, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, and the oldest continually-operating school for black children. That whole show is kickass listening and I can't get enough of it.

What was the political landscape of Africa like during the slave trade? Were there large organized local governments? How influential was Europe?