George Marion McClellan
George Marion McClellan was an African American author and educator born on September 29, 1860, in Belfast, Tennessee. He graduated from Fisk University and Hartford Theological Seminary, eventually becoming a conservative Republican, teacher, principal, minister, and writer. His literary contributions emerged during a pivotal time in African American literature, characterized by a struggle between assimilationist perspectives and the celebration of a distinct black identity. McClellan's works often conformed to traditional literary forms and themes, focusing on universal subjects like love and nature, while he initially perceived black speech as inferior. Although he adhered to established literary traditions, his later writings began to reflect the unique struggles of African Americans in the South, particularly in his collection "Old Greenbottom Inn and Other Stories." Personal tragedy struck when his son Theodore succumbed to tuberculosis, which inspired McClellan to advocate for better health care for black people. He passed away in 1934 in Louisville, Kentucky, leaving a complex legacy as a writer navigating the evolving landscape of African American literature.
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George Marion McClellan
- Born: September 29, 1860
- Birthplace: Belfast, Tennessee
- Died: May 17, 1934
- Place of death: Louisville, Kentucky
Biography
Little is known about the early life of George Marion McClellan. He was born in Belfast, Tennessee, on September 29, 1860, the son of George Fielding McClellan and Eliza Leonard McClellan. He earned a B.A. from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1885; married Mariah Augusta Rabb in 1888; earned an M.A. from Fisk in 1890; and received his B.D. from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1891. He was a conservative Republican, teacher, principal, minister, and writer.
McClellan wrote during a transitional period in African American literature and thought. An author during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he was caught between diverse approaches for conveying the thinking and experiences of blacks in a white-dominated society. Earlier black literature had sought to make black culture appear indistinguishable from white culture. Assimilation seemed to be the answer, a means of demonstrating that cultured middle-class blacks were no different from their white counterparts.
As an educated, middle-class, genteel man, McClellan infused his poetry and prose with these qualities, believing that power and respect came from within the system, and that African Americans could prove their individual worth by blending into the mainstream culture. However, this assimilationist thinking was weakening in the 1890’s as black writers, such as Paul Laurence Dunbar, began to celebrate the distinctiveness of the black experience, seeking out their own identities, histories, and experiences in their own particular vernacular. McClellan, however, labeled the distinctive speech patterns used to convey black discourse “bad English called Negro dialect.”
For McClellan, African Americans had no distinct history beyond slavery, emancipation, and poverty, and they would need more time to develop a true history. Therefore, he felt the need to express his thoughts according to traditions long established by such white masters as William Shakespeare and Aeschylus. He believed contemporary stories of racial tragedies should be told, but he argued these stories should be closely patterned after traditional literature. Throughout his life, he maintained his commitment to the mainstream, proven literary modes of expression in traditional form, making him the most consistent, if slightly out of step, black writer of the time.
His first volume of poetry and prose appeared in 1895, under the misleading title of Poems. It dealt with the universal themes of love, nature, and religion in the traditional, sentimental, and genteel forms of earlier writers without reflecting a distinctive black literary identity. Even his social protest works were formulaic, following romantic modes of expression. In his 1902 essay, “The Negro as a Writer,” he showed interest in racial pride, but he only included discussions of black writers who had large white readerships. Though gaining an increasing appreciation of the new literary trends, he remained true to what had worked for him, staying within his own comfort zone. By 1906, however, McClellan began to consider the unique aspects of black culture. His short- story collection, Old Greenbottom Inn, and Other Stories, depicts the struggles of African Americans in the South, although McClellan’s viewed this as a classic tragedy within the larger Western tradition.
Personal tragedy struck McClellan in 1911, when his son, Theodore, was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Help was not forthcoming, clearly because of race. Theodore died in 1917 and McClellan was instrumental in establishing an antitubercular sanatorium for black people in Los Angeles, California. McClellan died in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1934.