The Hindered Hand

Sutton E. Griggs, John Cullen Gruesser, Hanna Wallinger

• Publisher: West Virginia University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781943665860, 9781943665853
• eBook ISBN: 9781943665877
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Between 1899 and 1908, five long works of fiction by the Nashville-based black Baptist minister Sutton E. Griggs appeared in print, making him the most prolific African American novelist at the turn of the twentieth century. Brought out by Griggs's own Orion Publishing Company in three distinct printings in 1905 and 1906, The Hindered Hand; or, the Reign of the Repressionist addresses the author's key themes of amalgamation, emigration, armed resistance, and US overseas expansion; includes a melodramatic love story; and features two of the most sensational scenes in early African American fiction—a harrowingly graphic lynching of an innocent black couple based on actual events and the elaboration of a plot to wipe out white Southerners by introducing yellow fever germs into the water supply.Written in response to Thomas Dixon's recently published race-baiting novel The Leopard's Spots, Griggs's book depicts the remnants of the old Southern planter class, the racial crisis threatening the South and the North, the social ferment of the time, the changing roles of women, and the thwarted aspirations of a trio of African American veterans following the war against Spain. This scholarly edition of the novel, providing newly discovered biographical information and copious historical context, makes a significant contribution to African American literary scholarship.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Textual Note
• Illustrations
• Contents
• The Hindered Hand
• Chapter I: Occurrences that Puzzle
• Chapter II: His Face was her Guide
• Chapter III: Wherein Foresta First Appears
• Chapter IV: The Ways of a Seeker After Fame
• Chapter V: Rather Late in Life to be Still Nameless
• Chapter VI: Friendly Enemies
• Chapter VII: Officers of the Law
• Chapter VIII: A Messenger that Hesitates
• Chapter IX: A Plotter is He
• Chapter X: Arabelle Seabright
• Chapter XI: Unusual for a Man
• Chapter XII: A Honeymoon out of the Usual Order
• Chapter XIII: Shrewd Mrs. Crawford
• Chapter XIV: Alene and Ramon
• Chapter XV: Unexpected Developments
• Chapter XVI: An Eager Searcher
• Chapter XVII: Peculiar Divorce Proceedings
• Chapter XVIII: Mists That Vanish
• Chapter XIX: The Fugitives Flee Again
• Chapter XX: The Blaze
• Chapter XXI: Planning to Act
• Chapter XXII: The Two Pathways
• Chapter XXIII: They Grapple
• Chapter XXIV: Out of Joint with his Times
• Chapter XXV: A Joyful Farewell
• Chapter XXVI: Gus Martin
• Chapter XXVII: Tiara Mystifies Us
• Chapter XXVIII: Poor Fellow
• Chapter XXIX: A Revelation
• Chapter XXX: Mr. A. Hostility
• Chapter XXXI: Two of a Kind
• Chapter XXXII: Working and Waiting
• Chapter XXXIII: Back in Almaville
• Chapter XXXIV: A Great Day in Court
• Chapter XXXV: Eunice! Eunice!
• Chapter XXXVI: Enthusiastic John Blue
• Chapter XXXVII: Postponing his Shout of Triumph
• Chapter XXXVIII: He Cannot, But he Does!
• Chapter XXXIX: A Son of the New South
• Chapter XL: Sorrow and Gladness
• A Hindering Hand: Supplementary to The Hindered Hand: A Review of the Anti-Negro Crusade of Mr. Thomas Dixon, Jr.
• Notes to the Text
• Appendix A: The Original Version of Chapter 31
• Appendix B: Notices for and Reviews of The Hindered Hand, 1905–1906
• Appendix C: Sutton E. Griggs, Thomas Dixon Jr., the National Baptist Convention, and The Hindered Hand
• Appendix D: The February 7, 1904, Holbert Lynching
• Appendix E: African Americans in the Military, Sutton Griggs on Africa, and Race Relations in Nashville
• Bibliography