Black Abolitionists

1. Black Abolitionists 8.4

2. Society in the early 1800’s had a rigid gender hierarchy • Women were expected to stay out of politics and were given few opportunities for public action • Church organizations were one of the few arenas where women could participate Abolitionist Women

3. Charlotte Forten and Maria W. Stewart began the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 • Stewart became the first American women to address male audiences in public • She encouraged men to stand up and actively oppose slavery • Her speech accused men of not doing enough and she was received a great deal of negative backlash for her speech Abolitionist Women

4. Most black women were poor and uneducated and did not have the social opportunity to be public advocates against slavery • They acted as practical abolitionists whom risked everything to harbor fugitive slaves and worked to purchase freedom for themselves and many others Abolitionist Women

5. In Baltimore a group of African American abolitionists convinced prominent white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to take a more radical stance against slavery • Including denouncing the ideas of colonization in Africa, and gradual emancipation • William Watkins, Jacob Greener and Hezekiah Grice wrote letters advocating emancipation and greatly influenced the direction of the abolitionist movement • Garrison began a famous anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator where he pushed for immediate emancipation without compensation to slaveholders and without expatriation to Africa The Baltimore Alliance

6. Two other black abolitionists shaped Garrison’s opinions; David Walker and Nat Turner • David Walker wrote an Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829 which was widely read and circulated throughout the South • In this writing he attacked racism and attacked slavery, he also suggested slaves use violence to secure their freedom Walker’s Appeal

7. In 1831, Nat Turner, a privileged slave from Virginia initiated a large-scale slave uprising • Turner led a group of between 60 and 70 killed 57 whites before the militia put down his rebellion • This was the largest number of white casualties in a slave revolt • Turner and 17 of his associates were hanged for treason, but his revolt inspired many others Nat Turner

8. Northern abolitionists of both races became committed to nonviolence after the white reaction to Turner’s rebellion • Turner however gained respect among these abolitionists and was often compared to revolutionary leaders like George Washington • The ideas of preaching peaceful abolition but admiring violence against slavery characterized the anti-slavery movement for years to come Nat Turner

9. Assignment • 1. What role did black women play in the abolition movement? • 2. What was the Baltimore Alliance? • 3. Who was William Lloyd Garrison? What were his contributions to the abolition movement? • 4. What was David Walker’s Appeal and why was it important? • 5. What was the significance of Nat Turner’s revolt?