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Abolition |
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This online lecture will discuss the pre-Civil War era in the United States and the Abolitionist efforts to annul the institution of slavery. The play that we will be reading this week, The Escape by Williams Well Brown was written as a protest against slavery. It was read aloud at abolitionist meetings, but was not given a full stage production until the twentieth century.
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Much
of the wealth of the American South in the1820Õs and 1830Õs depended upon
the buying and selling of cotton. Field workers harvested and seeded the cotton
so that it could be woven into high priced cotton thread. This involved collecting
large amounts of cotton bolls for processing. The cotton gin, which was invented
in 1793 made it easy to process large amounts of cotton quickly. Consequently,
the cotton industry needed low labor costs to insure high profits. Enslaved
blacks, imported from Africa helped to fulfill this demand.
Before the nineteenth century many slaves worked on small farms harvesting tobacco or labored in households attending to landownerÕs personal needs. Many of these slaves were located in the Eastern seaboard states. Occasionally a slave was able to gain freedom through outside work or through the "good will" of a slave owner. This growing population of free blacks became a threat to landowners who needed slaves and feared that they might rebel. By 1820 the institution of slavery had spread to the new "cotton kingdom" which included the more western states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. Many slaves were relocated, bought and sold, to support large plantations that were developing in these states.
At the same time, some United States citizens were beginning to question the institution of slavery. The advocated for and supported the growing population of free blacks.
In order to regulate the movements of enslaved blacks, individual states began to pass "black codes" or "slave codes" that limited the travel of both enslaved and free African Americans. In 1793, for example, the state of Virginia passed its first law that prevented free blacks from entering the state. By 1806, the Virginia law was amended to state that any free blacks found in the state could be seized and sold as a slave. The slave codes were enacted at different times in the various Southern states. Collectively, they included provisions that eventually:
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Here are some examples of "slave codes."
"any free person found in company with any slave in any kitchen, or house, or Negro quarter, without a written permission from the owner or overseer of such slave must, for every such offence, receive fifteen lashes; which may be inflicted by the owner, or overseer of the slave, or by any officer or member of a patrol company." (Alabama sec. 1035)
"where the punishment of a white person might be imprisonment, the court may sentence the free Negro to be both whipped and imprisoned." (North Carolina, c.107)
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As the United States acquired new territories, controversy arose about whether each new state should be a slave state or a free state. In some ways the dissension reflected the growing tension between the industrialized northern territories and the more agricultural southern states.
Each side of the debate the abolitionists and the pro-slavery advocates developed arguments to support their beliefs. Some of these arguments are summarized below. Read the arguments carefully and look at the web links that accompany them. In class we will have a debate about slavery in which you will be asked to argue for one side or the other
The abolitionists were partly spurred by the philosophy of humanitarianism that was popular during the early nineteenth century. The humanitarians were influenced by Enlightenment ideals of democracy, equality, and the rights of the under class. The fought for the social progress and human rights of children under privileged workers, and women. Many of these ideas originated in the European bourgeoisie or middle class circles. Think about the story of Oliver Twist. (LINK) This novel, written by Charles Dickens, describes the miserable life of street child and asks its readers to empathize with the plight of the underclass. Similar sentiments stimulated the abolitionist ideals. Abolitionists believed that:
Many pro-slavery advocated argued from a perspective of logical positivism and scientific advancement. They believed that:
The Abolitionists used several strategies to popularize their cause.
Newspapers and writings
Both Black and White abolitionists began to publish and distribute treatises about the brutality of slavery and the humanity of African Americans. One of the first to appear was David WalkerÕs Appeal to the Colored People of the World published in 1829. This pamphlet was distributed by a free black man was so inflammatory and passionate in itÕs appeal for justice that the Governor of Georgia quarantined a ship carrying a boatload of the documents. It advocated for the use of violence to overthrow the system of slavery.
Abolitionists also began to publish newspapers like "The Liberator (1831)," "The North Star," and the "FreedomÕs Journal (1827)." William Lloyd Garrison who later founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society published the Liberator in Boston. Northern businessmen and philanthropists funded his organization. They also fought for womenÕs suffrage.
Armed insurrections
Some abolitionists supported the use of violence and advocated for armed overthrow of slaveholders. In some counties the African American population matched or exceeded the white population. In such cases, insurrection seemed possible if not likely. Two of the most well known insurrections were led by Nat Turner in Virginia (1831), and John Brown at HarperÕs Ferry Virgina (1859).
Lobbying
As each state entered the Union, Senators and politicians would for new states like Kansas, Texas, California, and Nebraska to be anti-slavery. Controversy surrounding the state of Kansas was particularly strong. The Missouri Compromise of 1850 at first prohibited slavery, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 reinstated it. Bloody skirmished broke out as "Free Staters" fought against the pro-slavery lobby. Eventually Abraham Lincoln condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of people who assisted enslaved Blacks in the Southern states who wanted to flee to the free states in the north or to Canada. Blacks would stay in the homes of Underground Railroad supporters who would assist them in their escape efforts. Harriet Tubman became the most well know leader of escaped slave convoys. After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, blacks that escaped to the Northern states were no longer free. The Act allowed slave owners to reclaim their captured slave property from wherever they resided.
Some United States citizens believed that the "slavery problem" could best be solved by returning all blacks to Africa. In 1816 an African American named Paul Cuffe founded the American Colonization Society, an organization that sponsored the resettlement of between 12,000 and 20,000 blacks in Liberia. Although some abolitionist and pro-slavery supporters, both black and white, supported the back-to Africa-movement it gradually lost popularity for three reasons. The first is that it was too expensive and difficult to return thousands of free blacks, the second was that the absence of the blacks would have created a huge labor shortage, and the third was that African Americans believed that they were valuable citizens who had contributed to the growth and development of the United States.
Literature was used by abolitionists as a way of illustrating the brutalities of slavery and as a way of depicting the humanity of African American people. Two types of literature gained popularity, Slave Narratives and novels about Black plantation life. The most popular abolitionist novel was Uncle TomÕs Cabin (1852) written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Slave narratives were authored or co-authored by African Americans; often free blacks that had escaped from southern plantations. Through their descriptions of whippings, rapes, and the separation of families, they counteracted prevailing beliefs about the "happy" life on the plantations. Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown (the author of the play The Escape that we will be reading for class) wrote some of the most well known narratives.
Uncle TomÕs Cabin became the most sensational and best selling novel of the nineteenth century. It was written by the daughter of a white minister and its portrayals of pious Black characters appealed to Northern Christian audiences. Ownership of the book was mad illegal in several Southern states. Many of the characters were later seen as stereotypical for example, Uncle Tom, the subservient protagonist, Topsy, the dark-skinned roustabout girl, Emmeline, the "beautiful" Octaroon, and the house servants who were Mammy figures. Nevertheless, the novel called attention to the plight of African American enslaved people.
Our reading for this week is The Escape (1858) written by William Wells Brown (1813-1884). This play was actually an abolitionist treatise that was read (rather than performed) at anti-slavery gatherings. The characters were developed to show the diversity of African American types. Cato represents the stereotypical "Sambo" slave who follows his masterÕs orders, while the characters of Glen and Melinda who eventually escape to freedom use crafted language to express anti-slavery sentiments.
He was forced to change his name to Sanford when the plantation owners adopted a white nephew. He was viciously beaten when he insisted upon calling himself William.
As an adult, both blacks and whites disliked him because of his light colored skin.
His first book was a slave narrative.
As a youth, he worked in a tavern, on a steamboat, as a tailor. One of his jobs was to transport slaves to auction. He was forced to pick gray hairs out of the heads of older slaves so that they would look younger.
He fled with his mother to Canada, but she was recaptured and returned to slavery.
While working on a steamboat he carried a trunk on shore and escaped. He was almost starved when he was found by a Quaker named Wells Brown who sheltered and nursed him. Wells Brown gave the author his name.
Brown later married, moved to Buffalo, and assisted with the Underground Railroad.
He wrote a novel called Clotell or The PresidentÕs Daughter about a mulatto slave girl that belonged to Thomas Jefferson.
He also wrote a collection of songs for anti-slavery meetings.
When the 1850 Fugitive Slave law was strengthened, Brown went to Paris as a delegate to the International Peace Congress and stayed for three years. There he wrote a novel called Three Years in Europe that was later renamed The American Fugitive in Europe.
Brown fought in the Civil War and wrote The Black Man, His Antecedents, and His Genius and later, after the Civil War The Negro in the American Rebellion, His Heroism and His Fidelity.
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Massachusetts.
1) Which elements of the play make it a strong statement for the abolitionist cause?
2) How does the play reflect BrownÕs concerns about his own mulatto identity?
3) How is language used to differentiate the characters?
4) Why does Brown include the stereotypical character of Cato in his play?
5) How does the play argue against the brutality of slavery, the hypocrisy of religion, and the idea of miscegenation?
6) How are the female characters portrayed in the play?
Copyrighted 2001, United States of America
Anita Gonzalez & Ian Granick
