A gifted poet, who was encouraged by William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Martin R. Delany to develop what Douglass called his "rare, poetic powers," James Monroe Whitfield was unable to reach his full potential as a writer because he lacked the financial support he needed to leave his work as a barber. One of the most talented and forceful black poets of the nineteenth century, he aligned himself with the black separatism movement in the 1850s and vigorously advocated the immigration of blacks to South and Central America.

The poet was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, to free blacks whose names are unknown. It is believed that he was a descendant of Ann Paul, sister of Rev. Thomas Paul of Exeter. Whitfield's sister was Mrs. Elizabeth P. Allen, whose daughter Annie Pauline Lindell became a well-known singer. Whitfield attended his neighborhood elementary school, but whether he entered...