In obtaining to reach a conclusion about the demise of slavery, there are many key factors to consider. The first, of course, is the role of individual African American leaders and their contribution to the cause, both excelling the demise and diminishing it also.The second is …
When reviewing The Death of Slavery: The United States, 1837-1865 (Elbert B. Smith), George Shepperson of the University of Edinburgh wrote, ‘it is regrettable, however, that, in a book which is forced to deal with the American anti-slavery movement, there should be so very little on black abolitionism. Is not Frederick Douglass, that outstanding black American, worth a mention in a book of this kind?’ Frederick Douglass - born a slave on a Maryland Plantation, sent to Baltimore to work as a servant and as a laborer in the shipyard, somehow learnt to read and write in 1830 despite the laws against slave literacy, and at twenty-one, in the year 1838, escaped to the North, settling in Massachusetts - became “the most famous black person in the world” (David Blight, 1993) during the nineteenth century. Douglass’ significance lies in this fact; he was one of, if not, the most influential African American of the nineteenth century. In 1845 Douglass wrote his biography ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Written by himself” and from 1847 he became a leading abolitionist speaker as well as a powerful and eloquent writer producing the antislavery newspaper The North Star in New York and later the novel The Heroic Slave in 1852, which highlighted his credo that slaves should rebel for freedom. He played a major role in recruiting many African Americans into the US army after 1863, prior to this however from 1856 he publicly endorsed the Republican Party and spoke widely in favour of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, yet criticised Lincoln for failing to address discrimination against black troops in the Union army. While he campaigned for equal citizenship for blacks following the Civil War, he was criticised in 1877 by the black population in America for failing to censure the Republican’s abandonment of the Reconstruction experiment. Nevertheless he never stopped agitating for equal rights for blacks and in doing so is definitely a significant character in bringing about the demise of slavery with even playing a part in African American’s being granted the right to vote. During the American Civil War, Douglass was a consultant to President Abraham Lincoln. He pushed for slaves serving in the Union forces; and after the Emancipation Proclamation served as a recruiter encouraging African Americans to join the Union army. After the Civil War, he advocated that since African …show more content…
Having seen slavery and racism, David Walker - born in Wilmington, South Carolina as a free African American (while his father had been enslaved, his mother was free, meaning he therefore was free also) yet still witnessing the oppression of fellow blacks - wrote an 1829 pamphlet: ‘An Appeal ...to the Coloured Citizens of the World…’ that, similarly to Frederick Douglass’ work years later, urged African Americans to fight for freedom and equality. While Walker was decried for inciting violence, his impact was significant to the abolitionist movement and thus on the demise of slavery. Following Walker’s pamphlet a $10,000 reward had been offered in Georgia to anyone who would deliver him alive or a $1,000 reward for Walker’s death following Southern slaveholders’ infuriation with the
When reviewing The Death of Slavery: The United States, 1837-1865 (Elbert B. Smith), George Shepperson of the University of Edinburgh wrote, ‘it is regrettable, however, that, in a book which is forced to deal with the American anti-slavery movement, there should be so very little on black abolitionism. Is not Frederick Douglass, that outstanding black American, worth a mention in a book of this kind?’ Frederick Douglass - born a slave on a Maryland Plantation, sent to Baltimore to work as a servant and as a laborer in the shipyard, somehow learnt to read and write in 1830 despite the laws against slave literacy, and at twenty-one, in the year 1838, escaped to the North, settling in Massachusetts - became “the most famous black person in the world” (David Blight, 1993) during the nineteenth century. Douglass’ significance lies in this fact; he was one of, if not, the most influential African American of the nineteenth century. In 1845 Douglass wrote his biography ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Written by himself” and from 1847 he became a leading abolitionist speaker as well as a powerful and eloquent writer producing the antislavery newspaper The North Star in New York and later the novel The Heroic Slave in 1852, which highlighted his credo that slaves should rebel for freedom. He played a major role in recruiting many African Americans into the US army after 1863, prior to this however from 1856 he publicly endorsed the Republican Party and spoke widely in favour of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, yet criticised Lincoln for failing to address discrimination against black troops in the Union army. While he campaigned for equal citizenship for blacks following the Civil War, he was criticised in 1877 by the black population in America for failing to censure the Republican’s abandonment of the Reconstruction experiment. Nevertheless he never stopped agitating for equal rights for blacks and in doing so is definitely a significant character in bringing about the demise of slavery with even playing a part in African American’s being granted the right to vote. During the American Civil War, Douglass was a consultant to President Abraham Lincoln. He pushed for slaves serving in the Union forces; and after the Emancipation Proclamation served as a recruiter encouraging African Americans to join the Union army. After the Civil War, he advocated that since African …show more content…
Having seen slavery and racism, David Walker - born in Wilmington, South Carolina as a free African American (while his father had been enslaved, his mother was free, meaning he therefore was free also) yet still witnessing the oppression of fellow blacks - wrote an 1829 pamphlet: ‘An Appeal ...to the Coloured Citizens of the World…’ that, similarly to Frederick Douglass’ work years later, urged African Americans to fight for freedom and equality. While Walker was decried for inciting violence, his impact was significant to the abolitionist movement and thus on the demise of slavery. Following Walker’s pamphlet a $10,000 reward had been offered in Georgia to anyone who would deliver him alive or a $1,000 reward for Walker’s death following Southern slaveholders’ infuriation with the