"he sought the freedom of the West"

Clarence King's travels are captured in Passing Strange.

Eliza Potter's travels are captured in her 1859 memoir.

As I prepped for our next class meeting, I was struck by the degree to which nineteenth century geologist Clarence King's penchant for travel often juxtaposes nicely against that of Eliza Potter, a hairdresser of mixed race. Though she was a woman of African descent, she also frequently traveled during this century. Via her memoir, A Hairdresser's Experience in the High Life, we learned earlier this semester of her desire in the 1850s to see "a Western world." That such a woman could have a cosmopolitan outlook is not very familiar to most readers in and outside academic circles.

The students will learn this week about King's desire to learn more about the world outside the United States and will be pushed to consider his desire with Potter in mind. Writes Martha Sandweiss in her monograph on his many experiences (the well publicized ones and not), "In London he sought the freedom of the West." This sentence poses tensions with the sentence in Potter's memoir uncovering her desire to "see a Western world."

Maps were handed out earlier this semester with the hope that the students enrolled in this class will pay careful attention to Potter's and King's movements. Along the way, we will almost certainly trouble this idea of what is meant when we hear the word "West" and how it means different things to many people, but something similar for those of a particular class. Perhaps they will also consider these two individuals' movements against Ada Copeland, King's wife who was born a slave in Georgia shortly before the Civil War. It will be interesting to see how much they see similarity and difference in the lives of King, Potter and indeed Copeland. The ultimate challenge, however, will be how to see the "nineteenth century city" in and outside the United States in their lives.