It was fear mostly that kept free black men from being accepted for enlistment in the early days of the Civil War (1861-1865). Although they had fought in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812, the uprisings and revolts of later years encouraged government worry about arming black men. Yet while riots and desertion were plentiful when it came to drafting white men into the war, those black men who were committed to fighting for freedom were turned...
Today all Americans celebrate Independence Day (July 4th) as a federal holiday commemorating the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776. This event marked this country’s freedom from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). But did you know that August 1 (Emancipation Day) was celebrated as a day of independence and liberation for thousands of enslaved and formerly enslaved people in this country and others for years after slavery was abolished in the West Indies on this day...
In a New Haven, Connecticut church on July 5, 1832, black abolitionist Peter Osborne spoke of independence. In those early days of the movement towards freedom from slavery, each July 4th holiday offered a way for abolitionists to remind the country of those who had never known freedom here. This one day out of each year had come to symbolize what had become the hallmark foundation of the United States, and yet was denied to so many who lived here. ...
History has a way of collapsing time. It moves along a social timeline from major event to major event and the small steps that occurred to the human beings involved in the day to day struggle between those events is often overlooked. We see for example the settling of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 (and the African slaves who were included in this), the Civil War in 1861, and the emancipation of slaves in 1863. We’re told that slavery had a long history of cruelty and abuse, and we are hesitant to spend too much time exploring the detailed lives of those who survived this....
Those of you who have visited the Black Abolitionist Archive have likely noticed the photograph of a young man named Anthony Burns in the upper left-hand corner of the main page. There’s an interesting history to this young man’s experience that helped to bring to light the depth of the outrage of slavery, and to change the hearts and minds of the citizens of Boston. Through his own words we learn of his plight....
This month we celebrate Black History. As part of that celebration, our DVD of the week (titled “Underground Railroad: the William Still Story”) highlights a book by William Still. As it happens, William Still is one of my favorite Black Abolitionists. He is called an “unsung hero” and that he was. I’d wager that not too many people have heard of him. Yet his speeches, delivered during the late 1850s and early 1860s, are some of the most eloquent I’ve read....
“Resolved, That the practice of non-resistance to physical aggression, is not only consistent with reason, but the surest method of obtaining a speedy triumph of the principles of universal
peace.” — William Whipper, 1837
Among the many speeches and editorials contained in the Black Abolitionist archive are three lengthy speeches delivered between 1833 and 1837 by William Whipper, black businessman and abolitionist. His were among the first speeches entered into the archive and the ones that had the most profound effect on me. Reading these speeches encouraged the excited feeling of discovery that would stay with me through the entire archiving project. Surely, I felt, I had discovered something that few others had seen. Surely, I thought, here is evidence of the seeds of change that altered the course of this country’s history in the years leading up to Emancipation....
Agitation is an interesting word and one used often in the Black Abolitionist speeches and editorials. One definition offered by dictionary.com is: “persistent urging of a political or social cause or theory before the public.” This defining seems to fit, yet it also offers the idea that this type of action is at once determined and steady without being violent and aggressive. “Agitation” says “we’re not going away” as it demands change. While protest marches and rioting can spark immediate attention and forceful response in kind, agitation works slowly to alter the direction of a nation over time....
Included in the festivities for the celebration of Emancipation Day each year, were speeches delivered by prominent abolitionists. One champion of the cause of abolition to speak in 1861 was William Howard Day, whose speeches and editorials can be found in the Black Abolitionist Archive among our digital collections. Day, formally educated (rare for a man of color during this time), spoke eloquently and passionately for the cause of freedom, for a reasoned approach to ending slavery. ...
History was made 100 years ago in the cause of human freedom. On the first of January 1863, Abraham Lincoln (16th president of the United States) signed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the end of slavery in the Confederate states. Part of this document states: “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof...
