Nashoba Commune
Encyclopedia
Nashoba Commune was an experimental project of Fanny Wright, initiated in 1825 to educate and emancipate slaves. It was located in a 2,000-acre (8 km²) woodland on the side of present-day Germantown, Tennessee
, a Memphis
suburb, along the Wolf River
. It was a small-scale test of her full-compensation emancipation plan in which no slaveholders would lose money for emancipating slaves. Instead, Wright proposed that, through a system of unified labor, the slaves would buy their freedom and then be transported to the independent settlements of Liberia
and Haiti
.
and his utopia
n community, New Harmony, Indiana
. Surviving for three years, Nashoba outlasted New Harmony.
Wright first expressed her plan of emancipation in an article called “A Plan for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in the United States, without Danger of Loss to the Citizens of the South,” which she published in the New Harmony Gazette in October 1825. Wright believed that if she could arrange emancipation without financial loss to slaveholders, planters
of the South would use it. She believed that slaveholders were “anxious to manumit their people, but apprehensive of throwing them unprepared into the world.” Wright imagined that if her experimental community was successful, its methods could be applied throughout the nation.
Wright raised funds and recruited people for her new settlement. Among the first were the Englishman George Flower and his family, who had founded another settlement in Albion, Illinois
. Wright could not raise sufficient monetary support and ended up using a good portion of her own fortune to buy land and slaves. She called it "Nashoba," the Chickasaw
word for "wolf."
Nashoba is remembered as an egalitarian, interracial community, but it did not reach these goals. While Wright was a champion of emancipation, the slaves at the community were her property until they could buy themselves out. In “Revisiting Nashoba,” Gail Bederman says, “Nashoba’s continued commitment to colonization and fully compensated emancipation meant that its slaves remained both subordinates and, most fundamentally, property.”
When the compensated emancipation plan failed to produce results, Wright turned Nashoba into a kind of utopian community. The white members of the community became the trustees and were responsible for administering the property and making the decisions. The slaves could never become trustees.
Wright left Nashoba in 1827 for Europe
to recover from malaria
. During her absence, the trustees managed the community, but by Wright’s return in 1828, Nashoba had collapsed. At its largest, Nashoba had only 20 members.
Nashoba is described briefly in Frances Trollope
's 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans
. She visited Nashoba with Wright in 1827 and lived in the United States for a few years. Her work was critical of American society for its lack of polish. She thought residents at Nashoba lacked both sufficient provisions and luxuries.
within the commune. In practice, it was interracial, but far from egalitarian. As rumors spread of inter-racial marriage, the Commune encountered increasing financial difficulty, eventually leading to its collapse in 1828.
Before Nashoba failed, Wright was returning by ship to America. On her journey, she wrote “Explanatory Notes Respecting the Nature and Objects of the Institution of Nashoba, and of the Principles upon which it is Founded.” She elaborated on a notion of Nashoba as an interracial and egalitarian utopia. Her plan outlined in “Explanatory Notes” was never put into effect, however; Nashoba had already failed when Wright arrived back in the US. Wright personally chartered a ship and delivered the remaining slaves of Nashoba to Haiti, where she emancipated them.
At Twin Oaks Community, a contemporary intentional community
of 100 members in Virginia, one residence has been named for Nashoba. All the buildings are named after former communities.
Additionally, the Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church, founded in 1992 in the area where the commune was located, is named after Nashoba.
Germantown, Tennessee
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...
, a Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
suburb, along the Wolf River
Wolf River (Tennessee)
The Wolf River is a alluvial stream in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, whose confluence with the Mississippi River was the site of various Chickasaw, French, Spanish and American communities and forts that eventually became Memphis, Tennessee....
. It was a small-scale test of her full-compensation emancipation plan in which no slaveholders would lose money for emancipating slaves. Instead, Wright proposed that, through a system of unified labor, the slaves would buy their freedom and then be transported to the independent settlements of Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
.
Purpose
The commune was to create a demonstration of Wright's emancipation plan: to create a place to educate slaves and prepare them for freedom and colonization in Haiti or Liberia. Wright was strongly influenced by Robert OwenRobert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
and his utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n community, New Harmony, Indiana
New Harmony, Indiana
New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, United States. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat. The population was 916 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. Many of the old Harmonist buildings still stand...
. Surviving for three years, Nashoba outlasted New Harmony.
Wright first expressed her plan of emancipation in an article called “A Plan for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in the United States, without Danger of Loss to the Citizens of the South,” which she published in the New Harmony Gazette in October 1825. Wright believed that if she could arrange emancipation without financial loss to slaveholders, planters
Planters
Planters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon...
of the South would use it. She believed that slaveholders were “anxious to manumit their people, but apprehensive of throwing them unprepared into the world.” Wright imagined that if her experimental community was successful, its methods could be applied throughout the nation.
Wright raised funds and recruited people for her new settlement. Among the first were the Englishman George Flower and his family, who had founded another settlement in Albion, Illinois
Albion, Illinois
Albion is a city in Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,933 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Edwards County. It is the home of the most pig farmers per square mile of all of the US counties.-Geography:...
. Wright could not raise sufficient monetary support and ended up using a good portion of her own fortune to buy land and slaves. She called it "Nashoba," the Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
word for "wolf."
Nashoba is remembered as an egalitarian, interracial community, but it did not reach these goals. While Wright was a champion of emancipation, the slaves at the community were her property until they could buy themselves out. In “Revisiting Nashoba,” Gail Bederman says, “Nashoba’s continued commitment to colonization and fully compensated emancipation meant that its slaves remained both subordinates and, most fundamentally, property.”
When the compensated emancipation plan failed to produce results, Wright turned Nashoba into a kind of utopian community. The white members of the community became the trustees and were responsible for administering the property and making the decisions. The slaves could never become trustees.
Wright left Nashoba in 1827 for Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to recover from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. During her absence, the trustees managed the community, but by Wright’s return in 1828, Nashoba had collapsed. At its largest, Nashoba had only 20 members.
Nashoba is described briefly in Frances Trollope
Frances Trollope
Frances Milton Trollope was an English novelist and writer who published as Mrs. Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope...
's 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans
Domestic Manners of the Americans
Domestic Manners of the Americans is an 1832 travel book by Frances Trollope, which follows her travels through America and her residence in Cincinnati, at the time still a frontier town...
. She visited Nashoba with Wright in 1827 and lived in the United States for a few years. Her work was critical of American society for its lack of polish. She thought residents at Nashoba lacked both sufficient provisions and luxuries.
Demise
The interim managers of Nashoba instigated the concept of free loveFree love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
within the commune. In practice, it was interracial, but far from egalitarian. As rumors spread of inter-racial marriage, the Commune encountered increasing financial difficulty, eventually leading to its collapse in 1828.
Before Nashoba failed, Wright was returning by ship to America. On her journey, she wrote “Explanatory Notes Respecting the Nature and Objects of the Institution of Nashoba, and of the Principles upon which it is Founded.” She elaborated on a notion of Nashoba as an interracial and egalitarian utopia. Her plan outlined in “Explanatory Notes” was never put into effect, however; Nashoba had already failed when Wright arrived back in the US. Wright personally chartered a ship and delivered the remaining slaves of Nashoba to Haiti, where she emancipated them.
Contemporary
Despite the failure of Nashoba, it provided an example of working utopian theory. Wright had progressive ideas of liberty and equality for her time, but the burden of leadership and financial hardship proved too much for the community.At Twin Oaks Community, a contemporary intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
of 100 members in Virginia, one residence has been named for Nashoba. All the buildings are named after former communities.
Additionally, the Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church, founded in 1992 in the area where the commune was located, is named after Nashoba.