Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval

This brief chapter is formatted in the style of dictionary definitions, giving various interpretations of the word “manual.” The first few definitions describe “manual” as related to the hands and what is done using them. The definitions evolve into a commentary on possession and, in turn, slavery and refused autonomy. “Manual” is also defined in opposition to one’s own mental and physical autonomy. Relating to the hands again, “manual” pertains to the worn hands of working people and all the ordinary things they do with them, from engaging in sexual intimacy to earning wages.

Additionally, “manual” is opposed to abstract thinking, planning, and intelligence. It relates to being handled, not only in terms of objects but also in terms of objectified people. Hartman describes the struggle that can ensue between the handled—like the enslaved or modern-day Black people—and the handler—like slaveholders or aggressive law enforcement. Finally, “manual” is defined as a kind of handbook.

Two well-dressed Black women walk down South Street in Philadelphia and admire men’s shoes in a storefront window. They pass by sociologist and Harvard PhD W. E. B. Du Bois, who is also dressed up. He is taken aback by the raucous energy of the Black people in the slum where he walks.