5) African American and Abolitionist Literature in the 19th Century Flashcards
When were the first slaves brought to Virginia?
1619
Who was Phillis Wheatley?
African American slave, first published African American poet, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
What was the Figurative Slave Acts about?
Federal law according to witch fugitive slaves captured in free states were to be returned to their owners in the South
_________ and ___________ were the only two of the first 12 American presidents who didn’t own slaves
John Adams, John Quincey Adams
What was the first organized abolitionist group?
Quakers
Describe slavery and racism in the U.S.
the superiority of whites, inferiority of blacks, general belief In black’s intellectual inferiority, illegal to teach black slaves to read and write, brutal, inhuman treatment of slaves, laws against miscegenation
Who did the famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech?
Sojourner Truth
Who fought in the Civil War?
Union (North, free states) and Confederacy (South, slave states)
Who and when won the Civil War?
Union in 1865
What was Emancipation Proclamation about?
Proclaimed all the slaves in the Confederate states free, it became a part of the Constitution as the 13th Amendment
Name Post-Civil-War Constitutional Amendments
13th- abolishing slavery, 14th- equality before the law, 15th- right to vote for all men regardless of race
Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
What is the theme of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?
Sexual abuse of female slaves by their owners
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Why was Uncle Tom’s Cabin criticized?
It created many stereotypes about Black people
Lydia Maria Child
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans; Hobomok; The Quadroons
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects; Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted
William Wells Brown
Clotel; or, the President’s Daughter
Name some major American Abolitionists
John Brown, Maria W. Stewart, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, William Wells Brown, Transcendentalists (Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, Fuller)
Who was active in women’s rights and suffrage movement?
Frederick Douglass
Who helped Harriet Jacobs to publish Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?
Lydia Maria Child
Which novel is considered the first novel published by an African American?
Clotel; or, the President’s Daughter
Describe the “tragic mulatta” character, examples
Stereotypical fictional character, mixed-race person, who is assumed to be depressed/suicidal, because they fail to completely fit in the “white world” or the “black world”, victim of the society divided by race- Clotel in Clotel; or, the Presidents Daughter, The Quadroons
