Abolitionist/Anti-Slavery

Antislavery Movement ; most preferred religious education, political action, boycotts of slave-harvested goods, or downright rebellion. The majority of abolitionists in America disagreed on how to reform slavery; most preferred religious education, political action, boycotts of slave-harvested goods, or downright rebellion.

Abolitionists The spirit of reform that swept the United States in the early 1800s included the efforts of abolitionists–reformers who worked to abolish, or end, slavery. Many Americans came to believe that slavery was wrong, but not all Northerners shared this view

William Lloyd Garrison Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison went to work for the country’s leading antislavery paper in Baltimore. Impatient with the paper’s moderate position, Garrison returned to Boston in 1831 to found his own newspaper, The Liberator. Garrison was the first white abolitionist to call for the “immediate and complete emancipation” of enslaved people. He attracted enough followers to start the New England Antislavery Society in 1832 and the American Antislavery Society a year later. The abolitionist movement grew rapidly. By 1838 the antislavery societies Garrison started had more than 1,000 chapters, or local branches.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY In 1831 white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founded The Liberator, a Boston anti-slavery newspaper. In the first issue, Garrison demanded the immediate emancipation, or freeing, of all enslaved persons. He urged abolitionists to take action without delay.

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass, the most widely known African American abolitionist, was born enslaved in Maryland. After teaching himself to read and write, he escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1838 and settled first in Massachusetts and then in New York. He joined the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and traveled widely to address abolitionist meetings. For 16 years, Douglass edited an antislavery newspaper called the North Star. He insisted that African Americans receive not just their freedom but full equality with whites as well.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY The most important spokesperson for the cause was Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass secretly taught himself to read, although Southern laws prohibited it. He escaped from slavery in 1838 and settled in Massachusetts. He captivated audiences by talking about his life in bondage. He spoke out against the injustices faced by free African Americans.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY In addition to his public speaking, Douglass edited a widely read abolitionist journal called the North Star. Douglass’s speaking and writing abilities so impressed audiences that opponents refused to believe he had been a slave! In response, he wrote three very moving autobiographies.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY The North had many prominent African American abolitionists. Isabella Baumfree, although born into slavery in New York, gained her freedom when New York abolished slavery. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth and vowed to tell the world about the cruelty of slavery. She began a tireless crusade against injustice.

Sojourner Truth When New York banned slavery in 1827, Isabella Baumfree’s owner insisted that she stay another year. She fled. In 1843 she chose a new name, Sojourner Truth, and began to speak against slavery and for women’s rights. She had never been taught to read or write, but she spoke with wit and wisdom.

The Underground Railroad Some abolitionists risked prison–even death–by secretly helping enslaved Africans escape. The network of escape routes out of the South came to be called the Underground Railroad. The runaway slaves traveled through the night, guided by the North Star.

The Underground Railroad During the day passengers rested at “stations”–barns, attics, church basements, or other places where fugitives could rest, eat, and hide until the next night’s journey. The railroad’s “conductors” were whites and African Americans who helped guide the escaping slaves to freedom in the North. Once in the North, however, fugitives still feared capture.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY Many abolitionists, like Douglass, did more than lecture and write. They became “conductors” on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad began around It was not an actual railroad but a series of houses where conductors hid runaway enslaved persons and helped them reach the next “station.” Enslaved African Americans made their way to the North or Canada on the railroad.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY By 1840, nearly 2.5 million enslaved people lived in the South. At one time, the North also had slavery. By 1804 every Northern state legislature had passed laws to eliminate it. The Southern economy, though, depended on slave labor.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY An organized antislavery movement did not begin until after the Revolutionary War. A religious group, the Quakers, started the abolition movement. Quakers had opposed slavery since colonial times. In 1775 the Quakers organized the first antislavery society.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY The American Colonization Society, founded in 1817, wanted to help free African Americans. The society set up a colony for free African Americans in Liberia, in western Africa. It was not successful because many African Americans wished to remain in the United States, their home.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY Harriet Tubman became the most famous African American conductor on the Underground Railroad. Tubman fled from slavery in Later she explained why she risked her life to escape: “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have the one, I would have the other.”

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY Tubman helped others escape. She returned to the South 19 times and led more than 300 enslaved people— including her own parents—to freedom. Slaveholders offered a reward of $40,000 for her, dead or alive. But she managed to avoid discovery time after time.