The Future of the Past in Hannibal: (Re)Presenting Race in Mark Twain's Home Town in the Twenty-First Century

Presenter:  Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Stanford University

I liked Dr. Fisher Fishkin’s presentation yesterday so much that I thought I’d come see what else she had to say about Mark Twain.  Her emphasis was on the fact that Hannibal, Missouri, almost completely relies on tourism for its continued economy, and yet the issues of slavery presented in Mark Twain’s books, as well as Twain’s anti-slavery feelings and criticisms of the townspeople, have not made its way into the town’s historic preservation.  The town calls itself "America’s Hometown" but has whitewashed all its negative history--just as Tom Sawyer does the fence.  Little boys are depicted as marble-players, not orphans sold by parents. 

 

Relatively recently, some changes have occurred.  Terrell Dempsey, an attorney from Hannibal, prompted in part by the publications of Dr. Fisher Fishkin, gathered evidence and wrote Searchingfor Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens’s World (2003).  In his book, Dempsey speaks to the town revenue and how nearly ten percent of it came from a tax on owned slaves.  In fact, virtually every aspect of Hannibal’s society—government, law, religion, economics, and social status had a stake in keeping the institution of slavery alive.  To this day, city board members have made public their desire that the boyhood home of Mark Twain not be tainted with slavery.   

In recent years, a monument was established honoring the black owned shops that existed in the city from 1920-1984, highlighting the existence of a vibrant black community.  White citizens responded by insisting that a similar monument be installed across the street in remembrance of white owned stores, and so it was.  In addition, small bits of information now appear in the Mark Twain Boyhood Museum, but they are detached and unexplained.  And nothing exists about Mark Twain’s feelings about slavery.  For example, Twain’s famous quotes: 

“There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.” 

“Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed white men” Stupendous Procession 1901 

Faye Dant, descendent of Henry Dant (1835-1939) who was a model for Twain’s Jim, remembers Jim Crow (separate but equal in schools, restaurants, etc.).  persisting even fifty years after their abolishment.  In 2011, also inspired by Dr. Fisher Fishkin’s books, Dant began to collect artifacts for a museum that ultimately opened in 2013 called Jim’s Journey, the Huck Finn FreedomCenter.  It is housed in the Old Welshman’s house, which figures in a key scene in AHF.   

Fisher Fishkin concluded her talk by saying that Hannibal has the opportunity to become America’s Hometown in actuality by embracing and reflecting upon its past.  The Welcome sign inside the Jim’s Journey Museum says, “In order to live in the present and prepare for the future, we must first…”