Pilgrim Heritage as a Usable Past for the Burleighs

The Burleigh family was proud of their Pilgrim past. Almost universally, biographical mentions of the Abolitionist family include the fact that Lydia Bradford Burleigh was a lineal descendent of William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth Colony for many years, and the author of the influential source materials for the history of this first major outpost in Anglo New England. The core generation of Burleigh siblings make reference to this heritage in their works. With the excellent recent scholarship by Kenyon Gradert on Puritan Spirits in the Abolitionist Imagination (2020), we now have an excellent guidepost to consider how to interpret this cherishing of a colonial heritage, without falling into a presentist anti-colonialist anachronism (though not foregoing an anti-colonial critique, either!). 

Gradert opens his book with the famous poem by James Russell Lowell, "An Interview with Miles Standish." Lowell was a friend to William and George Burleigh, and likely knew the other brothers, too. He helped publish some of the poetry of George and William. This poem was widely reprinted, and there can be no doubt that the brothers read it, given its currency in Abolitionist circles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kenyon Gradert, Puritan Spirits in the Abolitionist Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020.