Social Reform Movements from the 1820s to the 1850s: Abolitionist Movement Social Reform Movements from the 1820s to the 1850s: Abolitionist Movement.

Social Reform Movements Social Reform Movements from the 1820s to the 1850s:from the 1820s to the 1850s:

Abolitionist MovementAbolitionist Movement

Social Reform Movements Social Reform Movements from the 1820s to the 1850s:from the 1820s to the 1850s:

Abolitionist MovementAbolitionist MovementSocial Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of

Equality in AmericaEquality in America

Fighting Against SlaveryFighting Against Slavery

Main IdeaMain IdeaThe movement to end slavery dominated the Reform Era.

Reading FocusReading Focus

• What was life like for enslaved African Americans in the South?• How did people in the South fight against slavery?• What were the major developments in the abolition movement?

The Lives of Enslaved African The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansAmericans

• Including the colonial period, slavery had been an American institution for two centuries.

• Enslaved African Americans were held in every colony, northern and southern.• In the North, slavery continued to exist in some form until the 1840s.• By 1860 nearly 4 million African Americans lived in slavery in the South.

Slave AuctionsSlave Auctions• At slave auctions, slaves (like animals) were

inspected for any physical impurities. • If a slave had many scars, it usually meant

he/she was whipped several times and was troublesome.

The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansThe Lives of Enslaved African Americans• Children were routinely separated from their parents, brothers from their

sisters, and husbands from their wives. Families were often separated to “break their will” and would ensure that there would be no resistance by the slaves.

· Strong family relationships were formed through extended families.

Owners could separate families by selling husbands, Owners could separate families by selling husbands, wives, and their children to different buyers.wives, and their children to different buyers.

Five generations of a family born into slavery on aSouth Carolina plantation.

The Lives of Enslaved African The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansAmericans

• Enslaved men, women, and children worked every day of their lives, from the time they were old enough to perform chores until they were too old to be of any more use to the slaveholder.

• Most enslaved people lived on farms or plantations in the South, where cotton was a leading crop.

• They worked planting, tending, picking, processing, and loading cotton.

The Lives of Enslaved African The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansAmericans

• Other jobs included the many other tasks needed to maintain a farm or plantation, such as constructing and repairing buildings.

• Other plantation slaves worked as servants in the slaveholder’s house.

The Lives of Enslaved The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansAfrican Americans• Some enslaved people were skilled artisans,

and many worked as blacksmiths, bricklayers, or carpenters.

• Others worked in mines or in the forest as lumberjacks.

• Some slaves lived in cities where they worked in factories and mills, in offices, and in homes.

The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansThe Lives of Enslaved African AmericansA life of want A life of want • Enslaved African Americans were provided with inadequate food, clothing, and

shelter.• They seldom received medical care; sickness rarely stopped their work.• They had no rights under the law because it viewed them as property.

The Lives of Enslaved African AmericansThe Lives of Enslaved African Americans

• Some slaveholders used a wide variety of punishments, such as beating, whipping, starving, and threatening a person’s family members, to ensure obedience.

• Many slaveholders treated their slaves relatively well. But they generally did so in order to secure loyal service, not out of any great sense of humanity.

The Lives of The Lives of Enslaved African Enslaved African

AmericansAmericans

• African Americans developed ways to survive and bring some light into their lives through religion, storytelling, and music.

• Picture Top Right:• Slaves holding a Christian

religious ceremony

• Picture Bottom Right:• Slaves singing and dancing

to a “slave spiritual”

The Two Sides of SlaveryThe Two Sides of Slavery

Opposing abolitionOpposing abolition•

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Supporting AbolitionSupporting Abolition•

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The Antislavery Movement in the SouthThe Antislavery Movement in the South• In 1860, about 215,000 African Americans in the South were free

blacks.– Former slaves who had been emancipatedemancipated, or freed, by

slaveholders– More typically, some were free because their ancestors had

been freed.

Slave RevoltsSlave Revolts• An uprising led by Nat Turner Nat Turner in 1830 became the deadliest slave

revolt in American history. • New laws were enacted to strictly limit the movements and

meetings of slaves.

• They still faced harsh legal and social discrimination.• Free blacks aided people escaping slavery and spoke out for

freedom.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion: BackgroundNat Turner’s Rebellion: Background• Nat spent his entire life in Southampton

County, Virginia, an area with predominantly more blacks than whites.

• Nat was singularly intelligent, and learned how to read and write at a young age. – He grew up deeply religious, and was

often seen fasting, praying or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible.

– He frequently received visions which he interpreted as messages from God.

– These visions greatly influenced his life; for instance, when Nat was 23 years old, he ran away from his owner, but returned a month later after receiving such a vision.

• Turner often conducted Baptist services, and preached the Bible to his fellow slaves, who dubbed him as "The Prophet".– Turner also had an influence over some

white people.• By early 1828, Nat was convinced that

he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty.“

• While working in his owner's fields on May 12, Turner:

"heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first.“

Nat Turner’s Nat Turner’s Rebellion: Rebellion:

BackgroundBackground

• Nat was convinced that God had given him the task of "slay[ing] my enemies with their own weapons."

• Beginning in February 1831, Turner came to believe that certain atmospheric conditions were to be interpreted as a sign that he should begin preparing for a rebellion against the slave owners.

• On February 12, 1831, an annular solar eclipse was seen in Virginia. Nat saw this as a Black man's hand reaching over the sun and he took this as his sign. – The rebellion was initially planned for July

4, Independence Day, but was postponed due to deliberation between him and his followers, and illness.

• On August 13, there was an atmospheric disturbance, another solar eclipse, in which the sun appeared bluish-green (possibly from debris deposited in the atmosphere by an eruption of Mount Saint Helens). – Nat took this as the final signal, and a week

later, on August 21, he began the rebellion.

Nat Turner’s RebellionNat Turner’s Rebellion• Nat started with a few trusted

fellow slaves. – The rebels traveled from house to

house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they found.

– The rebels ultimately included more than 50 enslaved and free blacks.

• Because the rebels did not want to alert anyone to their presence as they carried out their attacks, they initially used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. – Nat called on his group to "kill all

whites.“• The rebellion did not discriminate

by age or sex, although Nat later indicated that he intended to spare women, children, and men who surrendered as it went on.

•Before Nat and his brigade of rebels met resistance at the hands of a white militia, they killed a total of 60 white men, women and children.

•They spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes

Significance of Nat Turner’s RebellionSignificance of Nat Turner’s Rebellion• Nat Turner's rebellion was

suppressed within 48 hours, but Turner eluded capture until October 30, when he was discovered hiding in a hole covered with fence rails and then taken to court.

• On November 5, 1831, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

• Turner was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia, now known as Courtland, Virginia. – His body was flayed,

beheaded and quartered.

Significance:Significance:• No other large-scale revolt by slaves• New laws were enacted to strictly

limit the movements and meetings of slaves.

The Antislavery Movement in the SouthThe Antislavery Movement in the South• Some enslaved people chose a nonviolent way to end their enslavement—they

escaped. • They tried to reach the free states of the North or Canada or Mexico, where

slavery was illegal. • No one knows exactly how many slaves escaped. • Thousands attempted escape, and although most were soon captured, many did

make it to freedom.

The Underground The Underground RailroadRailroad

• It was an informal, constantly changing network of escape routes

• Sympathetic white people and free blacks provided escapees with food, hiding places, and directions to their next destination, closer to free territory.

• “ConductorConductor” leader of the escape

• “PassengersPassengers” escaping slaves

• “TracksTracks” routes• “TrainsTrains” farm wagons

transporting the escaping slaves• “DepotsDepots” safe houses to

rest/sleep

Harriet TubmanHarriet Tubman(1820-1913)(1820-1913)Harriet TubmanHarriet Tubman(1820-1913)(1820-1913)

“Moses”

• Harriet Tubman: famous Underground Railroad worker who had escaped slavery and helped hundreds of slaves to freedom

• She helped over 300 slaves to freedom.

• There was a $40,000 bounty on her head for helping slaves escape from their masters.

• She served as a Union spy during the Civil War.

Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad

Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad

Abolitionist Laura Smith HavilandAbolitionist Laura Smith Haviland• She was an abolitionist and conductor

in the Underground Railroad. • Haviland's anti-slavery efforts became

her life's work, establishing the first Underground Railroad station in Michigan– She traveled to the South many times to

help runaway slaves find their way to freedom.

• In 1849, Haviland opened a school for African Americans in Toledo, Ohio in an effort to educate free blacks.

• She continued her humanitarian work as a nurse in the Civil War and agent of the Freedmen's Aid Society.

• Here Haviland is pictured probably speaking at an anti-slavery meeting.

Haviland is pictured probably Haviland is pictured probably speaking at an anti-slavery meeting. speaking at an anti-slavery meeting.

Escaped Slave Josiah HensonEscaped Slave Josiah Henson• Henson escaped as a fugitive slave from

Maryland in 1830, to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

• By 1841, Reverend Henson revealed his skills as an abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, and businessman when he organized with others to purchase 400

• acres of land near Dresden, Ontario. This became the Dawn Settlement where the British American Institute for fugitive slaves was located, the first vocational training school for blacks in North America.

• Henson's work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad brought at least 118 enslaved to freedom.– Obviously it was dangerous for Henson leave

the safety of his home and freedom in Canada to travel south in order to guide other enslaved men and women to freedom

Josiah Henson, pictured here Josiah Henson, pictured here with his wife, appears dignified with his wife, appears dignified

and of middle-class wealthand of middle-class wealth

Abolitionist Reverend John Abolitionist Reverend John Rankin and WifeRankin and Wife

• The life of John Rankin represents a deep belief in the right to freedom for all people regardless of race.

• As a Presbyterian minister, Rankin started an anti-slavery society in Carlisle, Kentucky, amidst angry slave owners.

• He eventually moved to Ripley, Ohio, where slavery was illegal although many whites in the area remained strong pro-slavery supporters, and risked working as a conductor and station keeper on the Underground Railroad.

• Rankin lectured across the northern states for the American Anti-Slavery Society, often falling victim to mob-violence.

• One time, pro-slavery advocates shaved his horse’s tail and mane in an effort to embarrass and scare him.

• In 1829, Rankin established the historic Ripley College, enrolling the first African-American student in 1831.

Reverend John Rankin and Wife Reverend John Rankin and Wife pictured here with his wife on their 50pictured here with his wife on their 50thth

wedding anniversary. wedding anniversary.

The Abolition MovementThe Abolition Movement• The abolition movement abolition movement was a campaign

to abolish, or end, slavery. • No other movement attracted as many

followers, garnered as much attention, elicited such strong feelings, or had such an impact on the history of the United States.

• The abolition movement had deep roots in religion.

• Many religious people in the North saw slavery as a clear moral wrong that went directly against their beliefs.

• By 1836 more than 500 antislavery societies existed.

GradualistsGradualists ImmediatistsImmediatists

Anti-Slavery AlphabetAnti-Slavery AlphabetAnti-Slavery AlphabetAnti-Slavery Alphabet

Detail of two Detail of two engravings from engravings from

The American The American Anti-Slavery Anti-Slavery

Almanac of 1840Almanac of 1840..

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!Sum of All Villanies!

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!Sum of All Villanies!

Sarah & Sarah & Angelina Angelina GrimkéGrimké

• The Grimké sisters were born in Charleston, South Carolina– They were outspoken campaigners for abolition and women’s rights.

• Throughout their lives, they traveled throughout the North, lecturing about their first-hand experiences with slavery on their family's plantation.

• The Grimke father has hundreds of slaves. Among the first women to act publicly in social reform movements, they received abuse and ridicule for their abolitionist activity.

• They both realized that women would have to create a safe space in the public arena to be effective reformers.

• They became early activists in the women's rights movement.

American Colonization Society American Colonization Society American Colonization Society American Colonization Society

British Colonization Society symbol

• Founded in 1817 & goal was to end slavery by setting up a colony in West Africa for freed slaves.

• In 1822, the nation of Liberia was formed and several thousand African-Americans settled there.– It’s capital, Monrovia, is

named after President James Monroe

•In the beginning of the 19th century, groups of free-born blacks, freed slaves and mulattoes from the United States of America emigrated to the west coast of Africa. •In 1847, 25 years after the first successful colonization, they proclaimed an independent Republic, which they named Liberia. At that time they numbered about 3,000: men, women and children.

•HOWEVER, Most African-Americans wanted to stay in the U.S., which was their homeland.

Trustee R.M. McGill Trustee R.M. McGill 18461846

William Lloyd William Lloyd Garrison Garrison (1801-1879)(1801-1879)

William Lloyd William Lloyd Garrison Garrison (1801-1879)(1801-1879)

• William Lloyd Garrison published an abolitionist newspaper, The LiberatorThe Liberator, for 35 years, until slavery was abolished

• Garrison’s Core Beliefs:

• Slavery & Masonry undermined republican values.

• Immediate emancipation with NO compensation for slave owners.

• Slavery was a moral, not an economic issue.

Black Abolitionist David WalkerBlack Abolitionist David Walker• American black abolitionist, most

famous for his pamphlet David David Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the WorldCitizens of the World – among the most powerful anti-slavery works ever written.

• Walker denounced the American institution of slavery as the most oppressive in world history and called on people of African descent to resist slavery and racism by any means.

• He believed that blacks (slaves) should fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.

• The book terrified southern slave owners, who immediately labeled it seditious. – A price was placed on Walker's head:

$10,000 if he were brought in alive, $1,000 if dead.

Frances Ellen Watkins HarperFrances Ellen Watkins Harper• She was born a free black in Baltimore,

Maryland.– She was fortunate enough to receive an

education & realized how disadvantaged those of her race were.

– She worked towards the abolition of slavery and civil rights for free blacks.

• Watkins traveled to many cities lecturing on the human suffering and political injustice of slavery.

• In Philadelphia she worked with the Underground Railroad, an experience that strengthened her convictions as an anti-slavery activist.

• In 1854, Watkins was exiled from her home state because of new laws allowing whites to re-enslave any African American entering from the North.

• Watkins wrote poetry and novels, donating part of the proceeds of her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Poems on Miscellaneous SubjectsSubjects, to the Underground Railroad movement.

Aunt Polly JacksonAunt Polly Jackson• She was a key figure in the

Underground Railroad movement and is listed today on a local monument dedicated to her and others who risked their lives to help free the enslaved.

• According to legend, as a fugitive herself, Jackson fought off bounty hunters with a butcher knife and Kettle of boiling water.

• Jackson joined a community of free blacks in the settlement of Africa, Ohio, that was established near Ripley.

• Many of the local black residents served as conductors on the Railroad.

• The look of determination on Polly Jackson’s face reveals her resolve to fight for her freedom.

Robert James HarlanRobert James Harlan• Born a slave into the elite white Harlan

family of Kentucky.– He is believed to be the half brother of the

John Marshall Harlan, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice most famous for opposing the 14th Amendment that granted African Americans basic civil rights, and also for voting against the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case that legalized segregation.

• He received some education while enslaved and earned enough money to purchase his freedom for $500.

• He struck it rich in the late 1840s, during the California Gold Rush, and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, investing $90,000 in local real estate.

• He built the first African-American school in Cincinnati and fought for the freedom and civil rights of all blacks

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

• She sent Douglass to serve Thomas' brother Hugh Auld in Baltimore.– When Douglass was about twelve, Hugh

Auld's wife Sophia started teaching him the alphabet.

– She was breaking the law against teaching slaves to read.

• When Hugh Auld discovered this, he strongly disapproved, saying that if a slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom.

• An American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia", Douglass is one of the most prominent figures in African-American and United States history.

• He was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant.

• He was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland.– He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey,

when he was still an infant.

– She died when Douglass was about seven and Douglass lived with his maternal grandmother.

– The identity of his father is obscure. Appearing to be of mixed race, Douglass originally stated that he was told his father was a white man, perhaps his owner Aaron Anthony.

– At age seven, Douglass was separated from his grandmother and moved to the Wye House plantation, where Anthony worked as overseer.

– When Anthony died, Douglass was given to Lucretia Auld, wife of Thomas Auld.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)• As Douglass learned and began to read

newspapers, political materials, and books of every description, he was exposed to a new realm of thought that led him to question and then condemn the institution of slavery.

• In later years, Douglass credited The Columbian Orator, which he discovered at about age twelve, with clarifying and defining his views on freedom and human rights.

• When Douglass was hired out to a Mr. Freeman, he taught other slaves on the plantation how to read the New Testament at a weekly Sabbath school. – As word spread, the interest among slaves

in learning to read was so great that in any week more than 40 slaves would attend lessons.

• In 1833, Thomas Auld took Douglass back from Hugh.

• Dissatisfied with Douglass, he was then sent to work for Edward Covey, a poor farmer who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker.“– There Douglass was whipped regularly.

• The sixteen-year-old Douglass was indeed nearly broken psychologically by his ordeal under Covey, but he finally rebelled against the beatings and fought back. – After losing a confrontation with Douglass, Covey

never tried to beat him again.• In 1837, Douglass met Anna Murray, a free

black in Baltimore. They married soon after he obtained his freedom.

Douglas’s Abolitionist ActivitiesDouglas’s Abolitionist Activities• Douglass continued traveling up to

Massachusetts. There he joined various organizations in New Bedford, including a black church, and regularly attended abolitionist meetings.

• He subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal The Liberator, and in 1841 heard Garrison speak at a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society. – At one of these meetings, Douglass was

unexpectedly asked to speak.– After he told his story, he was encouraged to

become an anti-slavery lecturer. – Douglass was inspired by Garrison and later

stated that "no face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments [of the hatred of slavery] as did those of William Lloyd Garrison."

– Garrison was likewise impressed with Douglass and wrote of him in The Liberator.

– Several days later, Douglass delivered his first speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention in Nantucket.

– Then 23 years old, Douglass said later that his legs were shaking but he conquered his nervousness and gave an eloquent speech about his rough life as a slave.

• In 1843, Douglass participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society's Hundred Conventions project, a six-month tour of meeting halls throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

• He participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the birthplace of the American feminist movement, and signed its Declaration of Sentiments.

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)or Isabella Baumfree

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)or Isabella Baumfree

1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

• An African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist.

• She was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York. Her best-known speech, Ain't I Ain't I a Woman?, a Woman?, was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

• After securing her freedom, she toured the nation and spoke out against slavery and called for abolition

““Ain't I a WomanAin't I a Woman?”—Sojourner Truth ?”—Sojourner Truth

“ Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about? That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne five children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

She delivered her best-known speech in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. The speech has become known as Ain't I a Woman?Ain't I a Woman? after Truth's refrain. The speech as shown here has been revised from the 19th century dialect in which Truth spoke.

““Ain't I a WomanAin't I a Woman?”—Sojourner Truth ?”—Sojourner Truth Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of

audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

” --Sojourner Truth