I absolutely agree that a 'chimney sweep' attempt at explanation re the Blake is absurd - of course he is writing of a child of African descent. But not, surely, in any hostile way, but as a DENIAL of the common-at-the-time equations of black=bad white=good, which is what I take to be the theme of this thread — it is the soul within and not the surface colour that matters, Blake asserts.

Have you, Azizi, read Conrad's 'The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"', 1897? It is many years since I read it; but I seem to recall that you might find its attitudes and overtones relevant to your work and concerns: the black seaman of the title, if I remember accurately, proves a source of difference and dissent and ill-feeling among the crew.