Harlem Duet

In 1860 Harlem, the sound of southern blues opens the scene. A lone voice recites the Declaration of Independence. On the steps to a blacksmith’s forge, Him is hammering metal into shape. Her, his partner, is mending a shawl. Her references the death of a fellow slave named Cleotis, whose genitals displayed in a formaldehyde-filled mason jar in a nearby hardware store. In France, a woman’s privates are also “entombed for scientific research” (33). While alive, the woman, whose birth name was Saartjie Baartman but was known as The Hottentot Venus, suffered objectification and was displayed to a paying audience: “When Saartjie was alive they paraded her naked on a pay per view basis. Her derrière was amply endowed” (34). Him and Her then say that, while they hope these souls are all in a better place, they no longer have the necessary parts to consummate sexual love.

Him kisses Her’s hand and gives her a white silk handkerchief with strawberry details—a gift from his mother, received from his father, and intended to be passed down to Him’s future wife. They speak of running away to Canada for a life of freedom and talk about starting a family and buying “a big house on an emerald hill” (35).