Transcript The African-American Odyssey

Opposition to Slavery
Let Your Motto Be Resistance,
1800-1850
Abolitionism Begins in America
Pre-revolutionary
 Southern slaves sought to free
themselves

– Received help from free blacks and a few whites
– Did not seek to destroy slave labor system
Abolitionism Begins in America

Post-revolutionary
– Black and white abolitionists from the North
– Quakers
• Not equal rights
• Little emphasis on southern slavery
– Emotionalism and Action
(practical christianity)
A serious of slave rebellions encourage
the idea of colonizing slaves
 Prosser, Vessey

The American Colonization
Society

ACS, 1816
– Proposed gradual emancipation
• With compensation
– Sending ex-slaves and freed people to
Liberia
• Support of southern slaveholders
• Northern supporters preferred giving a choice
Opposition to Colonization
– Americans not Africans
– Preferred to improve conditions in America
– Worried that “voluntary” colonization would be
forced
• Most southern states required the expulsion of slaves
individually freed by masters
• Efforts to expel all free black people or return them to
slavery
Expansion of Slavery
Rising tide of racism and violence
 Anti black and Anti abolitionists Riots

The Response of the Antislavery
Movement
• Setting policies
– White abolitions set policy
• Abolitionist commitment to non-violence
weakened
– Limited options
The American Anti-Slavery
Society

American Anti-Slavery Society
– AASS, 1831
• Black men participated without formal
restrictions
– No authority
– William Lloyd Garrison
• Immediate, uncompensated emancipation
• Equal rights for African Americans
Black and Women’s
Anti-slavery Societies

Fundraising
– Main task
• Bake sales, bazaars, and fairs

Feminism
– Created an awareness of women’s rights
• Challenged male culture
– Sojourner Truth
The Black Convention
Movement

First convention, Philadelphia, 1831
– Provided a forum for black male
abolitionists
• Abolition of slavery
• Improve conditions for northern black people
–
–
–
–
Integrate public schools
Black suffrage
Juries
Testify against white people in court
Black Churches

Ministers
– Used pulpits to attack slavery and racial
hatred
– Provided meeting places for abolitionists
Black Newspapers

Important voice in abolition movement
– Freedom’s Journal
• Samuel Cornish
– North Star
• Frederick Douglass
– Financial difficulties
IV. Moral Suasion

Reform strategy
– Appeal to Christian conscience
• Support abolition and racial justice
• Slaveholding was a sin
– Sexual exploitation, unrestrained brutality
– Northerners’ guilt
Moral Suasion (cont.)

AASS
– Used moral arguments against slave
owners
• Ultimately failed
– Petitions to Congress
• To end slavery in Washington, D.C.
Moral Suasion (cont.)

Reactions
– Southern response
• Vigilantes attacked antislavery supporters
• Gag Rule, 1836
– Northern response
• Mobs attacked abolitionists
The American and Foreign AntiSlavery Society

Divided by failure of moral suasion
– AASS splintered in 1840
• Role of women
• Garrison’s increasing radicalism
• Members form the AFASS
– Lewis Tappan
• Liberty party
– First antislavery political party
VI. A More Aggressive
Abolitionism

Growing northern empathy for slaves
– Labor demands sent slaves to the Southwest
– Radical wing of Liberty party
• Constitution supported slave resistance
– Encouraged northerners to help slaves escape

The Amistad and the Creole
 The Underground Railroad
– Harriet Tubman
David Walker’s Appeal

David Walker
– Appeal . . . to the Colored Citizens of the
World, 1829
• Aggressively attacked slavery and white racism
• Advocated violence
– Frightened white southerners
– Pamphlet was regarded as dangerous in the
Old South
» Found among slaves in southern parts
Black Militancy

Too much talk and not enough action
– More black abolitionists consider forceful
action
• Influenced by rebellious slaves
• Charged white abolitionists with duplicity
VIII. Frederick Douglass

Born a slave, 1818
– Learned to read
– Developed a trade
– Escaped in 1838
– Antislavery lecturer, 1841
• Encouraged by Garrison
– Breaks with Garrison in 1847
– North Star, 1847
– Endorsed the New York Liberty party, 1851
IX. Black Nationalism

African-American migration and black
nationalism
– Best means to realize black aspirations
– Violence
• Convinced a small few to advocate emigration
– Martin R. Delany
– Henry Highland Garnett
– Douglass and other black abolitionists
rejected
» Wanted freedom in the Unites States
X. Conclusion

From gradual to immediate abolition of slavery
– Adjust antislavery tactics to meet rising violence
– Combined approach
• Moral suasion
• Political involvement
• Direct action

Movement to black nationalism
– Promote interests, rights, and identity