Black Orphans, Adoption, and Labor in Antebellum American Literature

This essay takes a look back into American (literary) history and at the story of adoptions during the late 19th century within the frames of property and inheritance, as well as race and class. It shows that on the basis of biblical justification patterns as well as (first) legal regulations (Massachusetts Adoption of Children Act (1851), sentimental America hid under a thin veneer of charity (performed by the adopter) and deep gratitude (demanded from and performed by the adoptee). Harriet Wilson’s autobiographical novel Our Nig (1859) illustrates, that despite the sentimental promise of salvation through virtue for adopted children, this did not hold true for non-white children who remained property and were deprived of the possibility to become propertied.