A Narrative of the Life of Rev. Noah Davis

Reverend Noah Davis was born in 1804 in Virginia to a family of slaves. His father, John Davis, was head miller and was well respected. They belonged to a Mr. Robert Patten, a wealthy merchant.

Noah talks about how his parents were “pious members of a Baptist Church, and from their godly example, I formed a determination, before I had reached my twelfth year, that if I was spared to become a man, I would try to be as good as my parents.” This is Noah’s own idea of his American dream, what he aspires to accomplish, given the opportunity. It’s particularly interesting because Noah is a black slave, and it would be highly unlikely that he would get the opportunity to be a free man. Yet he keeps this dream of liberty (a common aspiration) and success in his head and gives himself hope. Cullen emphasises the importance of this kind of hope when he notes that “simply having a dream has sustained, even saved, lives that otherwise might not be deemed worth living.”

John Davis effectively achieved the typical dream of living off his own land and gaining liberty, as when the owner sold the mill, he gave Noah’s parents their freedom and allowed them to maintain themselves by cultivating as much land on the farm as they needed to live. We can relate this success to Adams’ statement that regardless of what happens, Americans “still have fever in our blood”, he never gave up his dream of providing for his family.

Cullen writes how “there are many American Dreams, their appeal simultaneously resting on their variety and their specificity.” This is prevalent in Noah’s account of how his children were sold into slavery and he made it his mission to get them back. This is a very different dream to the typical landowning dream, yet it is still along the lines of the dream of liberty, just for others.