March 16, 2025 • 40 mins
The contradictions of American freedom stand starkly revealed in this fascinating exploration of how slavery's opponents fought relentlessly against the institution through rebellion, escape, and the written word. When the founding fathers chose to maintain Black enslavement after winning independence from Britain, they created a moral hypocrisy that would haunt the nation for decades to come.
Three remarkable uprisings stand as testament to the courage of those who refused bondage. The Mende people aboard the Amistad in 1839 executed the first recorded takeover of a slave ship, eventually winning their freedom through a landmark Supreme Court case argued by former president John Quincy Adams. Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad operations from 1849-1860 demonstrated extraordinary strategic genius, guiding over 200 enslaved people to freedom without losing a single soul—even after the Fugitive Slave Act enlisted federal resources against escapees. And white abolitionist minister John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry represented a dramatic, if unsuccessful, armed confrontation with slavery that would cost him his life but ignite national conscience.
Equally powerful were the publications that systematically dismantled slavery's moral legitimacy. David Walker's fiery "Appeal" (1830) provided a comprehensive historical condemnation of racism. William Lloyd Garrison's "The Liberator" (1831) demanded immediate rather than gradual emancipation. Frederick Douglass's autobiography (1845) offered the first widely-read firsthand account of slavery's horrors by a former slave. And Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) became the century's bestselling book after the Bible, arguing that Christian love was fundamentally incompatible with human bondage.
Together, these acts of resistance forced America to confront its fundamental hypocrisy. By the 1860 presidential election, the nation could no longer avoid addressing slavery, leading to Southern secession and ultimately the Civil War that would bring about emancipation. This is the story of how rebellion—physical and intellectual—became the catalyst for freedom.
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Moved from the theologicaltransformation among slaves in
American history and how itfueled the move to emancipation
to look at some of thehistorical events and major
uprisings that made that comeabout.
We began post-revolution, whenthe founding fathers made the
(00:40):
decision number one to keepblack people in slavery rather
than free them after they'dgotten their independence from
Britain, and to continue thepolitical exclusion of women of
all races.
What did that create, though,from an international standpoint
?
Just like today, back then, inthe late 18th century, america
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became the source ofinternational scrutiny, and in
light of that internationalscrutiny, for fighting for
freedom and yet keeping people,and black people, in bondage, we
saw many countries begin toweigh in, particularly Britain,
since, of course, the Britishthe group that America obtained
their independence from.
(01:24):
And so, after the declaration,of course, after the
Constitution, the SecondColonial Convention, the signing
the Federalist Papers and, ofcourse, the electing of George
Washington as president, movingforward with America's political
system and its commitment tostill maintain black people in
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bondage, we start seeing thecontradictions of American
constitutionalism in its notionsof freedom.
We saw it from a theologicalstandpoint, with Bishop Berkeley
trying to maintain theSlavocracy with an inward
freedom, hermeneutic and not anoutward freedom interpretation,
and now we see it morepolitically and more societally.
(02:07):
The contradictions werethreefold.
First of all, how can you be afree country on paper and you
continue to hold slaves?
Of course this contradiction ispretty obvious that one cannot
bask in the glow ofaccomplishing one's freedom from
a tyrant and an oppressor andthose are two mildly used words
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by colonists to describe theBritish and yet at the same time
not see that you are a tyrantand an oppressor to African
slaves as well.
The second contradiction isthat you now have a constitution
in place that guarantees itscitizens due process, but not
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for slaves and not for women,mainly for white men.
And of course, the beginning ofwhite male privilege begins in
an uninterrupted way.
In the history of America wehave the colonial life, in which
they were free, but not fullyfree.
Now we have the United Statesof America, where white men are
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fully free and, of course, donot extend those same
constitutional freedoms to itsslaves and to its women.
And of course, the thirdcontradiction is that America
wins its freedom from Britainwith slaves who fought to help
them get their freedom, with thepromise that they would be free
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if they were able to, thecolonists were able to defeat
Britain and at the same time,and at the same time, reneged on
that promise after the war andkept Africans as slaves.
And so and so the slaves helpedthe colonists get their freedom
from Britain and at the sametime, even though they're
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promised freedom, the colonistsnow Americans renege on that
promise, puts them back inslavery, which was, which will
go essentially unchanged forclose to eight decades.
But as we move into the 19thcentury, as I said in the
previous segment, we begin tosee major uprisings.
(04:16):
We talked in the last segmentabout the uprisings, the
insurrections actually fromPrasavizi and Turner, in
Richmond, charleston and SouthHampton, virginia respectively.
But I also want to bring to ourattention three other uprisings
that really encapsulated thedogged determination that people
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of African descent, and in thiscase one white man, had in
fueling anti-slavery sentimentover and against pro-slavery
antagonists.
As we move into the 18thcentury also, we're going to see
in Washington DC more politicalantagonists from both sides of
the aisle, and our major partiescontinue to spar over what will
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be the status of the statesthat are going to be created as
America moves west from itscolonies, whether they're going
to be slave states or whetherthey're going to be free states,
and this is going to fuel thefire of pro-slavery until we get
to the slavery, until we get tothe Civil War.
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And so, looking at Prasavisiand Turner and their uprisings,
we see three men who have beencalled to the ministry to make
the case that God's favor is onthe revolutionaries who decide
to fight against their oppressor.
And of course they maintainthat the colonists were right to
fight to get their independencefrom Britain and that in light
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of that, they are equally rightfor fighting against now white
American men, mainly from asociopolitical standpoint, to
obtain their freedom from themas well.
Three other uprisings the firstone in 1839, the Amistad mutiny.
Many of you saw the movieAmistad, very, very well done.
(06:14):
Several years ago in 1839, theAmistad mutiny happened with a
ship carrying the Mende peoplefrom Sierra Leone leaving
Spanish Cuba en route to America, and it's actually overtaken by
the Mende people.
The historic background to thisis that supposedly Importations
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of slaves had stopped in 1808and really in 1750, but in 1808
in earnest.
And this is 31 years later,three decades up from 1808.
And we see, particularly in thedead of night, so that they
won't get caught importationstill bringing slaves in from
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Africa, even 210 years up fromits inception and of course in
earnest it was supposed to endimportations.
That is in 1750, and so almosta century after it was supposed
to have ended, we still seeshipments of slaves coming into
America.
The ship in this case, though,is overtaken by the Mende people
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, and of course, most historiansmark it as the first recorded
takeover of a slave ship.
In previous deportations, slaveswere able to get loose from
their chains and jump into theAtlantic in order to keep from
coming to America and becomingslaves, but the Mende people,
sierra Leone, overtake theAmistad, and it is the first
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recorded takeover of a slaveship in American history.
And more particularly, ofcourse, as importations now are
supposed to be illegal,america's own legality gets them
in trouble relative to theruling on these slaves coming in
from Sierra Leone and moreparticularly from Spanish.
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Cuba extended hearing that the35 survivors of the Mende people
from Sierra Leone had beenillegally abducted from Africa.
Because importations are nowoutlawed and the Supreme Court,
believe it or not in 1841,really had no choice because it
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was the law now ordered theirreturn to Sierra Leone forthwith
or immediately.
It is one of the firstinstances in which people of
African descent got a favorableruling from a group of white men
on a major political decisionand in this case economic
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decision in the courts.
And so it was celebrated as amajor milestone in American
history that, even thoughslavery is still going on
legally, that the Supreme Courtmade the right decision relative
to the Mende people to SierraLeone forthwith.
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Their major argument was made byattorney and actually former
president John Quincy Adams, whohad owned slaves himself but of
course had sold the slaves anddid a 180 relative to slavery
and of course was their mostoutspoken proponent and their
biggest advocate in thecourtroom itself, as he did an
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outstanding job in defending theMende people in Sierra Leone in
their case before the SupremeCourt, arguing that their
humanity is created by God, justas a white man's humanity, and
that in seeing humanity in them,it represents the biggest
challenge of European men, andparticularly white American men,
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in terms of how they view notonly people of African descent
but in light of that, how theyview the Slavocracy itself and
whether it is congruent withGod's will.
John Quincy Adams of courseargues that it's incongruent
with God's will and does anoutstanding job in his closing
argument.
Not only did the Supreme Courtrule in favor of the Mende
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people on the Amistad, but theyactually use American tax
dollars to finance the trip backto Sierra Leone back to Sierra
Leone.
And the American governmentagain a precedence here and not
only ruling that the slaves wereillegally abducted, that the
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Mende were illegally abductedfrom Africa, but also to finance
their trip back to Sierra Leone.
And so that mutiny was not onlygood for America legally and
for slaves, but it also went toshow just how far African people
were now willing to go in 1839to secure their freedom and not
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be readily taken into bondagewithout a major fight, even a
bitter fight to the death.
And it's that major fighting,that bitterness relative to
bondage, that really began toconvince a lot of pro-slavery
antagonists to becomeanti-slavery in their outlook.
And they connected thatrebellious spirit, that
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bellicose spirit from blackpeople, not as them being
naturally or innately criminal,but more importantly they
interpreted as them beingchildren of God who could not
stand bondage because they werecreated in freedom.
The second major uprisingHarriet Tubman's Underground
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Railroad.
Harriet Tubman's UndergroundRailroad.
Harriet Tubman lived from 1822to 1913.
The Underground Railroad takesplace 11 year period from 1849
to 1860.
Harriet is a slave that escapesthe freedom on September 17th
1849.
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She's approximately 27, 28years old and of course escapes
to Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, of course inthe 1840s, early 50s would have
the largest community of freeAfrican Americans former slaves
and of course had houses andbureaus set up by former slaves
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who were now free to helprunaways transition to life as
free people in Philadelphia.
And of course that's whereHarriet took most of her slaves
to Philadelphia because she wasfamiliar with the layout and the
landscape.
She's most famous for leadingover 200 slaves to freedom over
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15 trips along the UndergroundRailroad from 1849 to 1860.
Made more remarkable with thepassing of the Fugitive Slave
Act in 1850 that even enlistedthe federal government to
capture runaway slaves andreturned them to their master.
It was a last ditch effort onthe part of Southern politicians
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in Washington to try andmaintain slavery.
And even with the passage ofthe Fugitive Slave Act, harriet
made 15 trips along theUnderground Railroad and never
lost a slave in any of the 15trips.
Of course she said later in herlife I freed over 200 slaves,
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freed them in 15 trips.
I could have freed more thanthose 200.
Problem is they didn't knowthat there were slaves, and so
her famous quip in thereconstruction period about the
Underground Railroad.
It's also important to note thatthe Underground Railroad was
not just Harriet Tubman's baby.
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It was a multi-racial workingof both blacks and whites.
Whites that were sympathetic tothe antislavery cause, helping
to create different routes whichmade it difficult for
slaveholders to capture runawaysand bring them back to the
plantation.
They had routes leading fromFlorida up the Atlantic seaboard
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up to Philadelphia, and theyhad routes leading from rural
South Carolina, georgia, northCarolina, up to, of course,
philadelphia.
They had routes running fromthe Mississippi area, missouri
area, up to Chicago and, ofcourse, up to Wisconsin what
would become the Wisconsin withWisconsin territory, what would
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become the Wisconsin state ofWisconsin later?
And of course they even had apassage from Western New York
over into Toronto, canada, fromDetroit over into Toronto,
canada as well.
So it was a very, very complexsystem, the Underground Railroad
, which took decades to create.
Some historians said theystarted building the railroad
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and the routes as early as 1820,as it begins in earnest in the
mid 1840s and into 1850.
And so it wasn't just her babythat.
It was a coalition of likeminded people who decided that
slavery was the biggest sin andworked to end it.
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Harriet also goes on to workfor the Union Army in the Civil
War as a general in Beaufort,south Carolina, in 1862.
And of course becomes one ofthe major activists in the
women's rights movement untilher death in 1913.
As this begins in earnest inthe early 1900s and of course in
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1920, we see women beingextended the right to vote for
the first time in Americanhistory.
And so seven years up from herdeath, watching from above, I'm
sure she sees women being giventhe right to vote and sure was
smiling from heaven as a resultof it.
And of course the third majoruprising happened in 1859.
And of course this is JohnBrown's raid on Harper's Ferry,
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virginia.
In this sense John Brown was awhite minister, an abolitionist,
who worked with black ministersfor the abolitionist cause, for
the anti-slavery cause.
Both black and white peoplethought that Brown was kind of
eccentric.
He had an eccentric personality.
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In fact he had 21 children andhad a very eccentric personality
and some people were leery.
Both black and white were leeryof John Brown.
But very, very well known.
He was critical of thereligious approach, approach of
white ministers who preached apro-slavery doctrine.
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He said that moral suasionsermons do nothing to inspire
change.
The only thing my peopleunderstand, meaning white people
is violence.
And so he was committed to,like the insurrectionists, he
was committed to violentuprising and violent overthrow
of the government as we came toknow it and understand it.
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And so John Brown is this whiteanti-slavery minister.
Anti-slavery minister Brownactually led three previous
rebellions against pro-slaveryproponents in Kansas in 1856,
three years earlier.
And of course the fight, as Isaid earlier, was over whether
Kansas and other Midwesternstates would be slave states or
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would, whether they would befree states In fact, that's what
the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850was about as well would be free
states.
In fact, that's what theFugitive Slave Act of 1850 was
about as well.
It was supposed to be connectedto the Compromise of 1850,
where those states wereunderstood to be free states and
not slave states.
And of course it is this debate, this dogged debate, that's
going to lead us into,unfortunately, a civil war.
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And so, because he almost losthis life twice in those previous
rebellions in Kansas, brownsaid, and I quote "'God sees it
that my death is imminent'".
And so Brown, strategically, in1859, turns his attention to the
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South and the federal arsenal,or armory, as we call it, in a
day where of course theystockpile weapons at Harpers
Ferry Virginia, strategically,because the Harpers Ferry
Arsenal Army was one of thelargest arsenals in the United
States of America, in the UnitedStates of America.
And so John Brown strategicallypinpoints the arsenal at
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Harpers Ferry, virginia, withwhich to break in and steal
weapons and to arm both blackand white men committed to
anti-slavery to engage inviolent uprising.
And so on October 16th throughthe 18th, this three-day
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uprising in 1859, brown leads araid with other slaves, but
actually few slaves joined theraid.
It consisted mainly of whitemen and free black men.
Very few slaves joined the raidbecause they thought that Brown
was just too good to be true.
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They thought that Brown wastrying to set them up and get
them killed.
And of course they had goodreason to think that, because
they had been set up by peoplebefore, so many white people
coming to them under the guisethat they were anti-slavery and
not pro-slavery anti-slavery andnot pro-slavery and of course
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set them up for harsh punishmentfrom the slave master once they
tried to run away and ran themright into the slave holder and
his posse.
And so slaves in Virginia wereactually leery of Brown and was
not quick to jump into thisseemingly too good to be true
raid on Harpers Ferry, virginia,with the intent of arming
slaves for insurrection.
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And so he was hoping, of course, by stealing these in 1850,
1618 to 59, by stealing theseweapons, that he was hoping to
start a liberation movement inVirginia and in North Carolina,
in both states, because ofcourse those to him were key
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states, virginia and NorthCarolina, in terms of turning
this tide of slavery.
And so he strategically pickedVirginia and of course, north
Carolina, and so the intent wasto seize the armory so that you
could arm slaves forinsurrection.
He actually ends up killingseven army men and injuring 18
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union men, unfortunately, but hekilled seven and he injures 18.
But he killed seven and heinjures 18.
But you, but within 36 hoursmost of Brown's men not killed
were already were captured byfarmers, militiamen and of
course the Marines were calledin to put down the insurrection.
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And so it lasted about 36 hoursand by October, the 18th 1859,
the insurrection had been putdown.
Now this was different for Brown, namely because he had been
successful in the previousinsurrections, in 1856.
And now he has been caught inthis one.
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He had the inkling that hewould be caught.
As he said, my death isimminent, as God sees it.
And he knew that crackingHarper's Fair would be much
tougher than cracking thearsenals and the armories in
Kansas.
And so, true to his sentiment,he was captured.
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When he was captured, he wascharged number one with treason
against the state of Virginia,which is, of course, a crime
punishable by death.
Unfortunately for him, he wascharged with murdering five men.
He actually killed seven, buthe was charged with killing five
and more particularly, as youmight suspect, thirdly, he was
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charged with inciting a slaveinsurrection.
And so, in light of incitingthe insurrection, treason
against Virginia and murderingfive men, john Brown was found
guilty on all three counts andwas sentenced to hanging, which,
of course, was the form ofcapital punishment in America at
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that time.
In fact, it was the first formof capital punishment and Brown
is going to be found guilty onall three counts and executed by
hanging on December, the 2nd1859.
But these three insurrectionsproved invaluable to striking a
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chord in the pro-slaverycommunity about slavery's
physical impact on black peopleand its moral impact on America
and its image throughout theworld.
You had people willing to takeon America and risk all,
including, as you see with JohnBrown here, even death.
And we saw also with HarrietTubman with the Underground
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Railroad, even though she wasnot caught and hanged she would
have been if she had gottencaught People even willing to
risk the life that they do have,because they have now, in their
minds, dealing from a divinestandpoint, had given over their
lives to God for the cause ofblack liberation, and so this
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would be used by other countriesto criticize America that you
call yourself a free country andyou have all of these
insurrectionist activity, youhave these uprisings going on,
you even trying to bring in moreslaves from Sierra Leone, and
yet you talk about theseconstitutional freedoms that
everyone on your soil has, andyet you are engaged, in light of
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that, in the height ofhypocrisy, and you really need
to address this issue and youneed to address it immediately.
In addition to these uprisings,I want to call your attention
to the publication of four majorworks three books and one
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periodical that went a long wayin hammering the moral
legitimacy of slavery, and thatslavery should end not only on
moral grounds, but it shouldalso end on theological grounds.
As I mentioned to you in theprevious segment we began in
1830, david Walker's appeal tothe colored citizens of America,
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one of the most importantliterary tracks written in the
last 500 years period, let aloneas it addressed American racism
.
A complete sweep of not onlycontemporary history but of
ancient history as well, usingthose examples and comparing
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them to America and the waywhite people treat black people
in America.
Looking at it from thestandpoint of history, looking
at it from the standpoint ofblack bodies even a chapter in
there looking at it from, ofcourse, the wretchedness, as he
calls it, of humanity in lightof Jesus Christ, and so he even
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devotes a chapter to Jesushimself and how Jesus has been
used to justify white supremacy,in contradistinction to the God
of liberation that we readabout in the Bible.
It's a dogmatic work, it's afest riff.
It's a work that I recommend toeveryone.
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It is a manifesto of thehighest order, and so if you
have a weak stomach, don't readit, but if you do have a strong
stomach, please read it.
He is relentless in hiscondemnation of racism, white
people, and, of course, in hisintellectual sweep of its
comparison to other greatkingdoms as well, but those that
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rule in injustice andultimately led to their decline
and demise.
William Lloyd Garrison, a whiteman writing in Boston, an
anti-slavery proponent, startsin a periodical called the
Liberator, and he would make acontribution in each of these
publications when it came outonce a month.
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But he also would issue a callto those who could write, namely
his white friends but evenblack people who could write, to
submit an article in defense ofthe anti-slavery argument and
to argue why slavery, from amoral standpoint, should be
ended.
And so in this liberator organthat he starts, or the liberator
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in 1831, william Lord Garrisoncalls for the immediate, not the
gradual, emancipation of slaves.
And of course this is still 29years up from the Civil War.
And so Garrison is reallythrowing down the gauntlet of
liberation here by referring tohis organ as the liberator and,
of course, getting multiplecontributions from his friends
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submitting articles attackingthe moral and theological
legitimacy of slavery.
Frederick Douglass and hispublication Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, anAmerican Slave.
Douglass writes this book andit's unique in the annals of
American history, namely becauseit is the first book written by
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a slave now an ex-slave aboutthe horrors of slavery he was
now an ex-slave about thehorrors of slavery.
Keep in mind that up until thispoint, slaves were demanded by
slaveholders to lie whenevernortherners came down seeing if
slavery was as horrific as theyheard it was in the north.
And slave masters threatenedslaves that if you don't tell
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these people when they come downand ask you about slavery, if
you don't tell them that slaveryis a good institution, a divine
institution, and you love beingenslaved, that you're going to
meet with his punishment whenthey leave.
And so slaves really had towear masks, as they say
proverbially, and really had tolie to northerners who came down
inquiring about slavery.
But Douglass was able to escapethe slavery, write this book.
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He was taught how to read andwrite by his slave master's wife
, who just took a liking to himuntil his slave master found out
.
But even then Douglass took alittle bit of his money as he
got a little salary from hisslave work and paid white kids
to teach him some of the furtherrudiments of writing and
sentence construction, beyondwhat his slave master's wife
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taught him, and it led to thepublication of this book, not
only this one, but my bondage,my freedom as well.
And of course, in 1852, on July5th, what to the slave is the
4th of July, as he makes thedistinction between the 4th of
July and Independence Day aswhite people settle it, as white
Americans celebrate it over andagainst black people who are
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still slaves and don't have aJuly 4th to call Independence
Day, because it's white people'sindependence and not black
people's.
Also a great read if you get anopportunity.
But this book was the first ofits kind because it's written by
an ex-slave about slavery, andhe does not mince words, not
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only in terms of hiscondemnation of slavery, but
also in terms of his experiencesof slavery, one of which, of
course, he was a rebelliousslave, particularly as he
started to learn to read, and hewould say when he became an
adult, that knowledge makes aman unfit to be a slave.
And he became even morerebellious.
And what would happen inslavery is that if you were a
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rebellious slave, your slavemaster would pack you up and
send you to something called aslave breaker nearby plantation,
and the slave breakers job wasto make you more docile and to
have you engaged in mercilesswork and merciless whippings in
order to get you to be moredocile, more pious and readily
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accepting of your enslavement.
And, of course, douglas wassent to this slave breaker and
he actually ended up gettinginto a fist fight with this
slave breaker, with this slavebreaker, and of course he called
this slave master and told hisslave master to come get him.
The slave breaker did, becausein that fight Douglas beat him
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pretty well, which shows you hisrebellious nature.
And of course, as he's broughtback to the plantation of his
original slave master he'swhipped mercilessly.
But it would be one of the oneof the one of the last times he
is as he escapes to freedom andwrites this book in 1845 at 27
years of age.
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And so it sent a shockwave tothose who could read through the
nation that these types ofatrocities were still going on
in plantation life.
And in Douglass case he was inMaryland, considered a moderate
state racially in reference toslavery, but Douglass showed
that Maryland was one of theharshest states, particularly in
his experience in theSlavocracy itself.
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And of course, the otherpublication, the fourth one,
harriet Beecher, stowell's UncleTom Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin,
written in 1852.
This was the the widest sellingwork in America in the 19th
century, believe it or not,other than the Bible, second
only to the Bible in sales isread widely.
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And of course Stowe argues inthis book, uncle Tom's Cabin,
that that that's told throughthe life of Uncle Tom, that in
essence, Christian love canovercome and should overcome
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slavery.
That if we understand Christianlove at its highest essence,
then it will compel us to loveour fellow human being and not
enslave our fellow human being.
And, of course, harriet Beecher, her maiden name.
She grew up in Connecticut.
She was actually aschoolteacher and she grew up in
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an abolitionist home.
Her father and mother worked inabolitionist causes and
instilled that in their daughteras well.
And she decides to write thisbook in 1852, condemning slavery
and, of course, putting it innovel form through the life of
Uncle Tom.
Unfortunately, of course, fromthis book we get the pejorative
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term Uncle Tom as someone who ispious and readily accepting of
their oppression and someone whosees slavery as a moral virtue.
But this was not the Uncle Tomshe was describing in her book
at all, and so unfortunately,that pejorative connotation got
attached with this book.
But the book was really aboutChristian love.
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It was about how to love otherpeople, people who look like you
and people who don't look likeyou, and that if we are
committed to Christian faith,that that should not make a
difference in how we treatpeople.
And of course it strikes at thecore of America's Christian
values, particularly from abiblical standpoint, because it
refers us back morally to thegolden rule Treat others the way
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in which you would like to betreated.
And so it's a simple argument,but a powerful argument with
this book, as she chronicles thelife of Uncle Tom and his life,
his pedestrian life in hiscabin and his daily life as he
sought to extend Christian loveto everyone in in in which he
(34:31):
came into contact.
And so these four majorpublications Walker's Appeal,
garrison's the Liberator,douglass's narrative and, of
course, harriet Beecher Stowe'sUncle Tom cabin really went a
long way in breaking the back.
Cavan really went a long way inbreaking the back, morally, of
slavery.
The pen can be mightier thanthe sword, and these four
(34:53):
authors here prove that the pencan be mightier than the sword
and, in light of that, went along way in ending slavery as we
knew it in terms of itswidespread appeal and its
widespread approval.
In many ways the tide wasbeginning to change in America,
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and particularly with theinterest that northern whites
like William Lard Garrison andHarriet Beecher Stowe took in
the institution of slavery, itonly helped create a greater
coalition of anti-slaveryantagonists who, whenever they
got the opportunity, began tonot only speak out but to write
(35:37):
publicly about slavery's endthat it's antithetical to God's
will and that it's reallyantithetical to America's values
, at least constitutionally andat least relative to its
declaration of independence,that we have created a country.
In essence, that is thediametric opposite of what we
(36:01):
had in mind, or what thefounding fathers had in mind
when they created the country uh, created the country even
though they were children oftheir time, that in many ways we
had become even worse thanEngland in oppressing white
colonists up to theRevolutionary War.
And so, with that argument,slavery began to be looked upon
(36:23):
as anti-American, asanti-American and, of course, as
a result of these uprisings andbecause of these publications.
It was important for two reasons, these publications and
uprisings.
Number one America's pushed tothe brink and had to decisively
address its slave status onceand for all, as, as Garrison in
(36:47):
the Liberator maintained, hecalled for the immediate end,
not the gradual end, of slavery.
And it's in that spirit ofimmediacy now, not just that it
needs to go away 10, 20, 30years from now, but the
immediacy of it pushed Americato the brink morally and it had
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to decisively address itsstanding as a country that
fought for freedom and, ofcourse, is now five or six
decades into the United Statesof America and is still holding
slaves.
The second result from theseuprisings and these publications
(37:29):
, this malady in American life,this unwholesome situation in
context in American life,politically had to be addressed,
that there had to be some typeof legislation created to
formally end slavery and that itcould not wait any longer, that
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America was getting to a pointwhere the international
community and the domesticuprisings and publications were
beginning to close in onWashington DC and a decision had
to be made definitively and hadto be made definitively, not in
support of continuing slavery,but a decision had to be made
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definitively in the way ofending slavery and had to be
addressed for right, and thatmeans that it had to be
addressed.
In the 1860 presidentialelection, whoever won the 1860
(38:37):
presidential election had tomake an unprecedented statement
on slavery and had to make thatstatement in such a way that he
backed it up with legislationthat would correspond with that
statement and move Americaforward not only in terms of
(38:58):
ending slavery but move Americaforward futuristically, with the
other states now being foundedbeyond the 13 original colonies,
that that these states as theyare founded couldn't be slave
states, that these states beingfounded had to be couldn't be
slave states, that they had tobe free states.
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And as a result of that, we'regoing to see southern states
then begin to secede from theunion.
As Abraham Lincoln is electedpresident of the United States
and anticipating some type ofanti-slavery legislation, you're
going to see southern statessucceed from the secede from the
union, beginning with our own,south Carolina, on December 20th
(39:44):
1860, just a few weeks afterAbraham Lincoln is elected
president.
It is the first state to secedefrom the union, the last state
to come back.
And of course we see thefounding in 1861 of the
Confederate States of Americaand they're going to become
white political separatists whodemarcate themselves morally,
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theologically, historically,anthropologically from the
United States of America on theissue of slavery and it's going
to lead us, unfortunately, intocivil war.
It is to the 1860 presidentialelection, the Civil War and its
aftermath, and the passing ofthe 13th, 14th and 15th
(40:33):
Amendments that we will turn ourattention to in the next
segment.
Thank you for listening.
Good night to all and have agreat evening.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Moved from the theologicaltransformation among slaves in
American history and how itfueled the move to emancipation
to look at some of thehistorical events and major
uprisings that made that comeabout.
We began post-revolution, whenthe founding fathers made the
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decision number one to keepblack people in slavery rather
than free them after they'dgotten their independence from
Britain, and to continue thepolitical exclusion of women of
all races.
What did that create, though,from an international standpoint
?
Just like today, back then, inthe late 18th century, america
(01:03):
became the source ofinternational scrutiny, and in
light of that internationalscrutiny, for fighting for
freedom and yet keeping people,and black people, in bondage, we
saw many countries begin toweigh in, particularly Britain,
since, of course, the Britishthe group that America obtained
their independence from.
(01:24):
And so, after the declaration,of course, after the
Constitution, the SecondColonial Convention, the signing
the Federalist Papers and, ofcourse, the electing of George
Washington as president, movingforward with America's political
system and its commitment tostill maintain black people in
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bondage, we start seeing thecontradictions of American
constitutionalism in its notionsof freedom.
We saw it from a theologicalstandpoint, with Bishop Berkeley
trying to maintain theSlavocracy with an inward
freedom, hermeneutic and not anoutward freedom interpretation,
and now we see it morepolitically and more societally.
(02:07):
The contradictions werethreefold.
First of all, how can you be afree country on paper and you
continue to hold slaves?
Of course this contradiction ispretty obvious that one cannot
bask in the glow ofaccomplishing one's freedom from
a tyrant and an oppressor andthose are two mildly used words
(02:30):
by colonists to describe theBritish and yet at the same time
not see that you are a tyrantand an oppressor to African
slaves as well.
The second contradiction isthat you now have a constitution
in place that guarantees itscitizens due process, but not
(02:51):
for slaves and not for women,mainly for white men.
And of course, the beginning ofwhite male privilege begins in
an uninterrupted way.
In the history of America wehave the colonial life, in which
they were free, but not fullyfree.
Now we have the United Statesof America, where white men are
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fully free and, of course, donot extend those same
constitutional freedoms to itsslaves and to its women.
And of course, the thirdcontradiction is that America
wins its freedom from Britainwith slaves who fought to help
them get their freedom, with thepromise that they would be free
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if they were able to, thecolonists were able to defeat
Britain and at the same time,and at the same time, reneged on
that promise after the war andkept Africans as slaves.
And so and so the slaves helpedthe colonists get their freedom
from Britain and at the sametime, even though they're
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promised freedom, the colonistsnow Americans renege on that
promise, puts them back inslavery, which was, which will
go essentially unchanged forclose to eight decades.
But as we move into the 19thcentury, as I said in the
previous segment, we begin tosee major uprisings.
(04:16):
We talked in the last segmentabout the uprisings, the
insurrections actually fromPrasavizi and Turner, in
Richmond, charleston and SouthHampton, virginia respectively.
But I also want to bring to ourattention three other uprisings
that really encapsulated thedogged determination that people
(04:40):
of African descent, and in thiscase one white man, had in
fueling anti-slavery sentimentover and against pro-slavery
antagonists.
As we move into the 18thcentury also, we're going to see
in Washington DC more politicalantagonists from both sides of
the aisle, and our major partiescontinue to spar over what will
(05:04):
be the status of the statesthat are going to be created as
America moves west from itscolonies, whether they're going
to be slave states or whetherthey're going to be free states,
and this is going to fuel thefire of pro-slavery until we get
to the slavery, until we get tothe Civil War.
(05:29):
And so, looking at Prasavisiand Turner and their uprisings,
we see three men who have beencalled to the ministry to make
the case that God's favor is onthe revolutionaries who decide
to fight against their oppressor.
And of course they maintainthat the colonists were right to
fight to get their independencefrom Britain and that in light
(05:50):
of that, they are equally rightfor fighting against now white
American men, mainly from asociopolitical standpoint, to
obtain their freedom from themas well.
Three other uprisings the firstone in 1839, the Amistad mutiny.
Many of you saw the movieAmistad, very, very well done.
(06:14):
Several years ago in 1839, theAmistad mutiny happened with a
ship carrying the Mende peoplefrom Sierra Leone leaving
Spanish Cuba en route to America, and it's actually overtaken by
the Mende people.
The historic background to thisis that supposedly Importations
(06:39):
of slaves had stopped in 1808and really in 1750, but in 1808
in earnest.
And this is 31 years later,three decades up from 1808.
And we see, particularly in thedead of night, so that they
won't get caught importationstill bringing slaves in from
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Africa, even 210 years up fromits inception and of course in
earnest it was supposed to endimportations.
That is in 1750, and so almosta century after it was supposed
to have ended, we still seeshipments of slaves coming into
America.
The ship in this case, though,is overtaken by the Mende people
(07:31):
, and of course, most historiansmark it as the first recorded
takeover of a slave ship.
In previous deportations, slaveswere able to get loose from
their chains and jump into theAtlantic in order to keep from
coming to America and becomingslaves, but the Mende people,
sierra Leone, overtake theAmistad, and it is the first
(07:53):
recorded takeover of a slaveship in American history.
And more particularly, ofcourse, as importations now are
supposed to be illegal,america's own legality gets them
in trouble relative to theruling on these slaves coming in
from Sierra Leone and moreparticularly from Spanish.
(08:14):
Cuba extended hearing that the35 survivors of the Mende people
from Sierra Leone had beenillegally abducted from Africa.
Because importations are nowoutlawed and the Supreme Court,
believe it or not in 1841,really had no choice because it
(08:37):
was the law now ordered theirreturn to Sierra Leone forthwith
or immediately.
It is one of the firstinstances in which people of
African descent got a favorableruling from a group of white men
on a major political decisionand in this case economic
(08:57):
decision in the courts.
And so it was celebrated as amajor milestone in American
history that, even thoughslavery is still going on
legally, that the Supreme Courtmade the right decision relative
to the Mende people to SierraLeone forthwith.
(09:25):
Their major argument was made byattorney and actually former
president John Quincy Adams, whohad owned slaves himself but of
course had sold the slaves anddid a 180 relative to slavery
and of course was their mostoutspoken proponent and their
biggest advocate in thecourtroom itself, as he did an
(09:45):
outstanding job in defending theMende people in Sierra Leone in
their case before the SupremeCourt, arguing that their
humanity is created by God, justas a white man's humanity, and
that in seeing humanity in them,it represents the biggest
challenge of European men, andparticularly white American men,
(10:09):
in terms of how they view notonly people of African descent
but in light of that, how theyview the Slavocracy itself and
whether it is congruent withGod's will.
John Quincy Adams of courseargues that it's incongruent
with God's will and does anoutstanding job in his closing
argument.
Not only did the Supreme Courtrule in favor of the Mende
(10:33):
people on the Amistad, but theyactually use American tax
dollars to finance the trip backto Sierra Leone back to Sierra
Leone.
And the American governmentagain a precedence here and not
only ruling that the slaves wereillegally abducted, that the
(10:54):
Mende were illegally abductedfrom Africa, but also to finance
their trip back to Sierra Leone.
And so that mutiny was not onlygood for America legally and
for slaves, but it also went toshow just how far African people
were now willing to go in 1839to secure their freedom and not
(11:18):
be readily taken into bondagewithout a major fight, even a
bitter fight to the death.
And it's that major fighting,that bitterness relative to
bondage, that really began toconvince a lot of pro-slavery
antagonists to becomeanti-slavery in their outlook.
And they connected thatrebellious spirit, that
(11:41):
bellicose spirit from blackpeople, not as them being
naturally or innately criminal,but more importantly they
interpreted as them beingchildren of God who could not
stand bondage because they werecreated in freedom.
The second major uprisingHarriet Tubman's Underground
(12:02):
Railroad.
Harriet Tubman's UndergroundRailroad.
Harriet Tubman lived from 1822to 1913.
The Underground Railroad takesplace 11 year period from 1849
to 1860.
Harriet is a slave that escapesthe freedom on September 17th
1849.
(12:23):
She's approximately 27, 28years old and of course escapes
to Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, of course inthe 1840s, early 50s would have
the largest community of freeAfrican Americans former slaves
and of course had houses andbureaus set up by former slaves
(12:43):
who were now free to helprunaways transition to life as
free people in Philadelphia.
And of course that's whereHarriet took most of her slaves
to Philadelphia because she wasfamiliar with the layout and the
landscape.
She's most famous for leadingover 200 slaves to freedom over
(13:05):
15 trips along the UndergroundRailroad from 1849 to 1860.
Made more remarkable with thepassing of the Fugitive Slave
Act in 1850 that even enlistedthe federal government to
capture runaway slaves andreturned them to their master.
It was a last ditch effort onthe part of Southern politicians
(13:28):
in Washington to try andmaintain slavery.
And even with the passage ofthe Fugitive Slave Act, harriet
made 15 trips along theUnderground Railroad and never
lost a slave in any of the 15trips.
Of course she said later in herlife I freed over 200 slaves,
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freed them in 15 trips.
I could have freed more thanthose 200.
Problem is they didn't knowthat there were slaves, and so
her famous quip in thereconstruction period about the
Underground Railroad.
It's also important to note thatthe Underground Railroad was
not just Harriet Tubman's baby.
(14:10):
It was a multi-racial workingof both blacks and whites.
Whites that were sympathetic tothe antislavery cause, helping
to create different routes whichmade it difficult for
slaveholders to capture runawaysand bring them back to the
plantation.
They had routes leading fromFlorida up the Atlantic seaboard
(14:33):
up to Philadelphia, and theyhad routes leading from rural
South Carolina, georgia, northCarolina, up to, of course,
philadelphia.
They had routes running fromthe Mississippi area, missouri
area, up to Chicago and, ofcourse, up to Wisconsin what
would become the Wisconsin withWisconsin territory, what would
(14:56):
become the Wisconsin state ofWisconsin later?
And of course they even had apassage from Western New York
over into Toronto, canada, fromDetroit over into Toronto,
canada as well.
So it was a very, very complexsystem, the Underground Railroad
, which took decades to create.
Some historians said theystarted building the railroad
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and the routes as early as 1820,as it begins in earnest in the
mid 1840s and into 1850.
And so it wasn't just her babythat.
It was a coalition of likeminded people who decided that
slavery was the biggest sin andworked to end it.
(15:40):
Harriet also goes on to workfor the Union Army in the Civil
War as a general in Beaufort,south Carolina, in 1862.
And of course becomes one ofthe major activists in the
women's rights movement untilher death in 1913.
As this begins in earnest inthe early 1900s and of course in
(16:12):
1920, we see women beingextended the right to vote for
the first time in Americanhistory.
And so seven years up from herdeath, watching from above, I'm
sure she sees women being giventhe right to vote and sure was
smiling from heaven as a resultof it.
And of course the third majoruprising happened in 1859.
And of course this is JohnBrown's raid on Harper's Ferry,
(16:33):
virginia.
In this sense John Brown was awhite minister, an abolitionist,
who worked with black ministersfor the abolitionist cause, for
the anti-slavery cause.
Both black and white peoplethought that Brown was kind of
eccentric.
He had an eccentric personality.
(16:55):
In fact he had 21 children andhad a very eccentric personality
and some people were leery.
Both black and white were leeryof John Brown.
But very, very well known.
He was critical of thereligious approach, approach of
white ministers who preached apro-slavery doctrine.
(17:16):
He said that moral suasionsermons do nothing to inspire
change.
The only thing my peopleunderstand, meaning white people
is violence.
And so he was committed to,like the insurrectionists, he
was committed to violentuprising and violent overthrow
of the government as we came toknow it and understand it.
(17:37):
And so John Brown is this whiteanti-slavery minister.
Anti-slavery minister Brownactually led three previous
rebellions against pro-slaveryproponents in Kansas in 1856,
three years earlier.
And of course the fight, as Isaid earlier, was over whether
Kansas and other Midwesternstates would be slave states or
(18:00):
would, whether they would befree states In fact, that's what
the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850was about as well would be free
states.
In fact, that's what theFugitive Slave Act of 1850 was
about as well.
It was supposed to be connectedto the Compromise of 1850,
where those states wereunderstood to be free states and
not slave states.
And of course it is this debate, this dogged debate, that's
going to lead us into,unfortunately, a civil war.
(18:25):
And so, because he almost losthis life twice in those previous
rebellions in Kansas, brownsaid, and I quote "'God sees it
that my death is imminent'".
And so Brown, strategically, in1859, turns his attention to the
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South and the federal arsenal,or armory, as we call it, in a
day where of course theystockpile weapons at Harpers
Ferry Virginia, strategically,because the Harpers Ferry
Arsenal Army was one of thelargest arsenals in the United
States of America, in the UnitedStates of America.
And so John Brown strategicallypinpoints the arsenal at
(19:08):
Harpers Ferry, virginia, withwhich to break in and steal
weapons and to arm both blackand white men committed to
anti-slavery to engage inviolent uprising.
And so on October 16th throughthe 18th, this three-day
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uprising in 1859, brown leads araid with other slaves, but
actually few slaves joined theraid.
It consisted mainly of whitemen and free black men.
Very few slaves joined the raidbecause they thought that Brown
was just too good to be true.
(19:50):
They thought that Brown wastrying to set them up and get
them killed.
And of course they had goodreason to think that, because
they had been set up by peoplebefore, so many white people
coming to them under the guisethat they were anti-slavery and
not pro-slavery anti-slavery andnot pro-slavery and of course
(20:11):
set them up for harsh punishmentfrom the slave master once they
tried to run away and ran themright into the slave holder and
his posse.
And so slaves in Virginia wereactually leery of Brown and was
not quick to jump into thisseemingly too good to be true
raid on Harpers Ferry, virginia,with the intent of arming
slaves for insurrection.
(20:31):
And so he was hoping, of course, by stealing these in 1850,
1618 to 59, by stealing theseweapons, that he was hoping to
start a liberation movement inVirginia and in North Carolina,
in both states, because ofcourse those to him were key
(20:54):
states, virginia and NorthCarolina, in terms of turning
this tide of slavery.
And so he strategically pickedVirginia and of course, north
Carolina, and so the intent wasto seize the armory so that you
could arm slaves forinsurrection.
He actually ends up killingseven army men and injuring 18
(21:21):
union men, unfortunately, but hekilled seven and he injures 18.
But he killed seven and heinjures 18.
But you, but within 36 hoursmost of Brown's men not killed
were already were captured byfarmers, militiamen and of
course the Marines were calledin to put down the insurrection.
(21:42):
And so it lasted about 36 hoursand by October, the 18th 1859,
the insurrection had been putdown.
Now this was different for Brown, namely because he had been
successful in the previousinsurrections, in 1856.
And now he has been caught inthis one.
(22:06):
He had the inkling that hewould be caught.
As he said, my death isimminent, as God sees it.
And he knew that crackingHarper's Fair would be much
tougher than cracking thearsenals and the armories in
Kansas.
And so, true to his sentiment,he was captured.
(22:27):
When he was captured, he wascharged number one with treason
against the state of Virginia,which is, of course, a crime
punishable by death.
Unfortunately for him, he wascharged with murdering five men.
He actually killed seven, buthe was charged with killing five
and more particularly, as youmight suspect, thirdly, he was
(22:49):
charged with inciting a slaveinsurrection.
And so, in light of incitingthe insurrection, treason
against Virginia and murderingfive men, john Brown was found
guilty on all three counts andwas sentenced to hanging, which,
of course, was the form ofcapital punishment in America at
(23:10):
that time.
In fact, it was the first formof capital punishment and Brown
is going to be found guilty onall three counts and executed by
hanging on December, the 2nd1859.
But these three insurrectionsproved invaluable to striking a
(23:33):
chord in the pro-slaverycommunity about slavery's
physical impact on black peopleand its moral impact on America
and its image throughout theworld.
You had people willing to takeon America and risk all,
including, as you see with JohnBrown here, even death.
And we saw also with HarrietTubman with the Underground
(23:56):
Railroad, even though she wasnot caught and hanged she would
have been if she had gottencaught People even willing to
risk the life that they do have,because they have now, in their
minds, dealing from a divinestandpoint, had given over their
lives to God for the cause ofblack liberation, and so this
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would be used by other countriesto criticize America that you
call yourself a free country andyou have all of these
insurrectionist activity, youhave these uprisings going on,
you even trying to bring in moreslaves from Sierra Leone, and
yet you talk about theseconstitutional freedoms that
everyone on your soil has, andyet you are engaged, in light of
(24:40):
that, in the height ofhypocrisy, and you really need
to address this issue and youneed to address it immediately.
In addition to these uprisings,I want to call your attention
to the publication of four majorworks three books and one
(25:03):
periodical that went a long wayin hammering the moral
legitimacy of slavery, and thatslavery should end not only on
moral grounds, but it shouldalso end on theological grounds.
As I mentioned to you in theprevious segment we began in
1830, david Walker's appeal tothe colored citizens of America,
(25:26):
one of the most importantliterary tracks written in the
last 500 years period, let aloneas it addressed American racism
.
A complete sweep of not onlycontemporary history but of
ancient history as well, usingthose examples and comparing
(25:47):
them to America and the waywhite people treat black people
in America.
Looking at it from thestandpoint of history, looking
at it from the standpoint ofblack bodies even a chapter in
there looking at it from, ofcourse, the wretchedness, as he
calls it, of humanity in lightof Jesus Christ, and so he even
(26:08):
devotes a chapter to Jesushimself and how Jesus has been
used to justify white supremacy,in contradistinction to the God
of liberation that we readabout in the Bible.
It's a dogmatic work, it's afest riff.
It's a work that I recommend toeveryone.
(26:32):
It is a manifesto of thehighest order, and so if you
have a weak stomach, don't readit, but if you do have a strong
stomach, please read it.
He is relentless in hiscondemnation of racism, white
people, and, of course, in hisintellectual sweep of its
comparison to other greatkingdoms as well, but those that
(26:53):
rule in injustice andultimately led to their decline
and demise.
William Lloyd Garrison, a whiteman writing in Boston, an
anti-slavery proponent, startsin a periodical called the
Liberator, and he would make acontribution in each of these
publications when it came outonce a month.
(27:14):
But he also would issue a callto those who could write, namely
his white friends but evenblack people who could write, to
submit an article in defense ofthe anti-slavery argument and
to argue why slavery, from amoral standpoint, should be
ended.
And so in this liberator organthat he starts, or the liberator
(27:37):
in 1831, william Lord Garrisoncalls for the immediate, not the
gradual, emancipation of slaves.
And of course this is still 29years up from the Civil War.
And so Garrison is reallythrowing down the gauntlet of
liberation here by referring tohis organ as the liberator and,
of course, getting multiplecontributions from his friends
(28:01):
submitting articles attackingthe moral and theological
legitimacy of slavery.
Frederick Douglass and hispublication Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, anAmerican Slave.
Douglass writes this book andit's unique in the annals of
American history, namely becauseit is the first book written by
(28:22):
a slave now an ex-slave aboutthe horrors of slavery he was
now an ex-slave about thehorrors of slavery.
Keep in mind that up until thispoint, slaves were demanded by
slaveholders to lie whenevernortherners came down seeing if
slavery was as horrific as theyheard it was in the north.
And slave masters threatenedslaves that if you don't tell
(28:46):
these people when they come downand ask you about slavery, if
you don't tell them that slaveryis a good institution, a divine
institution, and you love beingenslaved, that you're going to
meet with his punishment whenthey leave.
And so slaves really had towear masks, as they say
proverbially, and really had tolie to northerners who came down
inquiring about slavery.
But Douglass was able to escapethe slavery, write this book.
(29:09):
He was taught how to read andwrite by his slave master's wife
, who just took a liking to himuntil his slave master found out
.
But even then Douglass took alittle bit of his money as he
got a little salary from hisslave work and paid white kids
to teach him some of the furtherrudiments of writing and
sentence construction, beyondwhat his slave master's wife
(29:29):
taught him, and it led to thepublication of this book, not
only this one, but my bondage,my freedom as well.
And of course, in 1852, on July5th, what to the slave is the
4th of July, as he makes thedistinction between the 4th of
July and Independence Day aswhite people settle it, as white
Americans celebrate it over andagainst black people who are
(29:51):
still slaves and don't have aJuly 4th to call Independence
Day, because it's white people'sindependence and not black
people's.
Also a great read if you get anopportunity.
But this book was the first ofits kind because it's written by
an ex-slave about slavery, andhe does not mince words, not
(30:12):
only in terms of hiscondemnation of slavery, but
also in terms of his experiencesof slavery, one of which, of
course, he was a rebelliousslave, particularly as he
started to learn to read, and hewould say when he became an
adult, that knowledge makes aman unfit to be a slave.
And he became even morerebellious.
And what would happen inslavery is that if you were a
(30:34):
rebellious slave, your slavemaster would pack you up and
send you to something called aslave breaker nearby plantation,
and the slave breakers job wasto make you more docile and to
have you engaged in mercilesswork and merciless whippings in
order to get you to be moredocile, more pious and readily
(30:54):
accepting of your enslavement.
And, of course, douglas wassent to this slave breaker and
he actually ended up gettinginto a fist fight with this
slave breaker, with this slavebreaker, and of course he called
this slave master and told hisslave master to come get him.
The slave breaker did, becausein that fight Douglas beat him
(31:15):
pretty well, which shows you hisrebellious nature.
And of course, as he's broughtback to the plantation of his
original slave master he'swhipped mercilessly.
But it would be one of the oneof the one of the last times he
is as he escapes to freedom andwrites this book in 1845 at 27
years of age.
(31:36):
And so it sent a shockwave tothose who could read through the
nation that these types ofatrocities were still going on
in plantation life.
And in Douglass case he was inMaryland, considered a moderate
state racially in reference toslavery, but Douglass showed
that Maryland was one of theharshest states, particularly in
his experience in theSlavocracy itself.
(32:00):
And of course, the otherpublication, the fourth one,
harriet Beecher, stowell's UncleTom Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin,
written in 1852.
This was the the widest sellingwork in America in the 19th
century, believe it or not,other than the Bible, second
only to the Bible in sales isread widely.
(32:22):
And of course Stowe argues inthis book, uncle Tom's Cabin,
that that that's told throughthe life of Uncle Tom, that in
essence, Christian love canovercome and should overcome
(32:42):
slavery.
That if we understand Christianlove at its highest essence,
then it will compel us to loveour fellow human being and not
enslave our fellow human being.
And, of course, harriet Beecher, her maiden name.
She grew up in Connecticut.
She was actually aschoolteacher and she grew up in
(33:02):
an abolitionist home.
Her father and mother worked inabolitionist causes and
instilled that in their daughteras well.
And she decides to write thisbook in 1852, condemning slavery
and, of course, putting it innovel form through the life of
Uncle Tom.
Unfortunately, of course, fromthis book we get the pejorative
(33:25):
term Uncle Tom as someone who ispious and readily accepting of
their oppression and someone whosees slavery as a moral virtue.
But this was not the Uncle Tomshe was describing in her book
at all, and so unfortunately,that pejorative connotation got
attached with this book.
But the book was really aboutChristian love.
(33:46):
It was about how to love otherpeople, people who look like you
and people who don't look likeyou, and that if we are
committed to Christian faith,that that should not make a
difference in how we treatpeople.
And of course it strikes at thecore of America's Christian
values, particularly from abiblical standpoint, because it
refers us back morally to thegolden rule Treat others the way
(34:10):
in which you would like to betreated.
And so it's a simple argument,but a powerful argument with
this book, as she chronicles thelife of Uncle Tom and his life,
his pedestrian life in hiscabin and his daily life as he
sought to extend Christian loveto everyone in in in which he
(34:31):
came into contact.
And so these four majorpublications Walker's Appeal,
garrison's the Liberator,douglass's narrative and, of
course, harriet Beecher Stowe'sUncle Tom cabin really went a
long way in breaking the back.
Cavan really went a long way inbreaking the back, morally, of
slavery.
The pen can be mightier thanthe sword, and these four
(34:53):
authors here prove that the pencan be mightier than the sword
and, in light of that, went along way in ending slavery as we
knew it in terms of itswidespread appeal and its
widespread approval.
In many ways the tide wasbeginning to change in America,
(35:16):
and particularly with theinterest that northern whites
like William Lard Garrison andHarriet Beecher Stowe took in
the institution of slavery, itonly helped create a greater
coalition of anti-slaveryantagonists who, whenever they
got the opportunity, began tonot only speak out but to write
(35:37):
publicly about slavery's endthat it's antithetical to God's
will and that it's reallyantithetical to America's values
, at least constitutionally andat least relative to its
declaration of independence,that we have created a country.
In essence, that is thediametric opposite of what we
(36:01):
had in mind, or what thefounding fathers had in mind
when they created the country uh, created the country even
though they were children oftheir time, that in many ways we
had become even worse thanEngland in oppressing white
colonists up to theRevolutionary War.
And so, with that argument,slavery began to be looked upon
(36:23):
as anti-American, asanti-American and, of course, as
a result of these uprisings andbecause of these publications.
It was important for two reasons, these publications and
uprisings.
Number one America's pushed tothe brink and had to decisively
address its slave status onceand for all, as, as Garrison in
(36:47):
the Liberator maintained, hecalled for the immediate end,
not the gradual end, of slavery.
And it's in that spirit ofimmediacy now, not just that it
needs to go away 10, 20, 30years from now, but the
immediacy of it pushed Americato the brink morally and it had
(37:08):
to decisively address itsstanding as a country that
fought for freedom and, ofcourse, is now five or six
decades into the United Statesof America and is still holding
slaves.
The second result from theseuprisings and these publications
(37:29):
, this malady in American life,this unwholesome situation in
context in American life,politically had to be addressed,
that there had to be some typeof legislation created to
formally end slavery and that itcould not wait any longer, that
(37:54):
America was getting to a pointwhere the international
community and the domesticuprisings and publications were
beginning to close in onWashington DC and a decision had
to be made definitively and hadto be made definitively, not in
support of continuing slavery,but a decision had to be made
(38:15):
definitively in the way ofending slavery and had to be
addressed for right, and thatmeans that it had to be
addressed.
In the 1860 presidentialelection, whoever won the 1860
(38:37):
presidential election had tomake an unprecedented statement
on slavery and had to make thatstatement in such a way that he
backed it up with legislationthat would correspond with that
statement and move Americaforward not only in terms of
(38:58):
ending slavery but move Americaforward futuristically, with the
other states now being foundedbeyond the 13 original colonies,
that that these states as theyare founded couldn't be slave
states, that these states beingfounded had to be couldn't be
slave states, that they had tobe free states.
(39:21):
And as a result of that, we'regoing to see southern states
then begin to secede from theunion.
As Abraham Lincoln is electedpresident of the United States
and anticipating some type ofanti-slavery legislation, you're
going to see southern statessucceed from the secede from the
union, beginning with our own,south Carolina, on December 20th
(39:44):
1860, just a few weeks afterAbraham Lincoln is elected
president.
It is the first state to secedefrom the union, the last state
to come back.
And of course we see thefounding in 1861 of the
Confederate States of Americaand they're going to become
white political separatists whodemarcate themselves morally,
(40:10):
theologically, historically,anthropologically from the
United States of America on theissue of slavery and it's going
to lead us, unfortunately, intocivil war.
It is to the 1860 presidentialelection, the Civil War and its
aftermath, and the passing ofthe 13th, 14th and 15th
(40:33):
Amendments that we will turn ourattention to in the next
segment.
Thank you for listening.
Good night to all and have agreat evening.
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