Black Intellectuals

Question 1

Phillis Wheatley

Answer 1

Antebellum Period
1753-1784 (closer to Revolutionary War)
Taken as a slave from Africa
-Glad to be Christian
-"Black is a diabolical die"
-First hand experience-taken at 7 years old
-Appeal to religion
-Need for education/ arguing against ignorance

Question 2

Freedom’s Journal

Answer 2

Antebellum Period
1827 (closer to Revolutionary War)
Rev. Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm
Free
Insights into the black abolitionists in the antebellum period
"make a concentrated effort for the education of our youth"
self-improvement ethic
opposition to colonization...this changed
racial affiliation 
need for education 
appeal to respectability
appeal to religion

Question 3

Ben Banneker

Answer 3

Antebellum
1731-1806 (Around American Revolutionary War)
Son of freed parents
Revolutionary Rhetoric
Appeal to Christianity-Christian brothers
Africans are not intellectually inferior to whites and should be allowed the same freedoms that Jefferson claims to defend.

Question 4

Richard Allen

Answer 4

Antebellum Period
Late 1700s-Early 1800s (American Revolutionary War)
Born a Slave
Allen and Jones write to disprove the the work of Carey who stained the reputation of blacks during the illness occurring in Philadelphia .
Attack of the intellectual thought of Carey
Protest strategies of moral uplift
First-hand experience
Use of Irony
Appeal to respectability (in contrast to the whites)
Appeal to religion-Exodus “God was first pleader of the poor”

Question 5

Prince Hall

Answer 5

Antebellum Period 
1797 (American Revolutionary War)
former slave who gained his freedom
Appeal to distinction as Mason-demonstrate values of strength and patience
Obey the law
Deprived of rights but not humanity
Fear not Man but God

Question 6

James Forten

Answer 6

Antebellum Period
1813 (Revolutionary War)
Born free
Wrote against a piece of Penn. legislature that would force black emigrants to register with local officials upon entering Penn
Use of Patriotism (Declaration of Independence, 4th of july)
Appeal to Natural Law-God’s law =all men are equal

Question 7

David Walker

Answer 7

Born 1796 (Revolutionary War)
Education is important so that slaves can understand how oppressed they are and fight against it.
Afrocentric view of intellectual history
Affirmation of violence
Vision of God-one who stands with the oppressed only
Use of history, Christianity and the declaration of independence
Created state of enemies

Question 8

Nat Turner

Answer 8

Antebellum Period
1800 Civil War
Slave
Gray was trying to demonstrate the intent of Turner’s actions (murder of master families)
Appeal to religion-2nd awakening-personal understanding of scripture
Upend the society-Imagery and Christian theology
1st hand experience

Question 9

Maria Stewart

Answer 9

Antebellum Period
1835 Civil War
Free
first woman to speak to mixed audience
Spoke of the men making moves to better Black society, instead of dances spend money on education. Call to action to the men, to stand up and be men
Appeal to Religion-Paul not feeling the sting death
Appeal to Africanism-came from enlightened nation, act like it
Appeals to past writers-David Walker and Nat Turner
writings and speeches
Invokes American identity

Question 10

Henry Garnet

Answer 10

Antebellum Period
Antebellum
1843 Civil War
Demand freedom from Masters, and take it if they say no
Appeal to unity and conviction so as not to feed stereotype of disunity
Based on Experience-slave when a child
Obligation to God-sinning by being a slave
Appeal to role models-fighters, rebels and revoloutionaries
defended black emigration schemes
Appeal to Manhood- have the ability protect the women

Question 11

Frederick Douglass

Answer 11

Antebellum
Civil War 
escaped slave
Desire to prove they are American citizens
tone is different than garnet
Men as males not human
Use of white authority leaders

Question 12

Sojourner Truth

Answer 12

Antebellum
1797-1883 Civil War
Slave
Firsthand experience-13 children sold into slavery
Appeal to Womanhood-rights for women that men took
Appeal to Religion-Queen Esther

Question 13

Robert Purvis

Answer 13

Antebellum
1837-Civil War
Free
Disenfranchisement of blacks in voting by adding white as a qualification
Appeal to State citizenship-right to vote
How can it be taken away?
Use of Natural Law-scheme of expatriation, Constitution

Question 14

Mary Ann Shadd

Answer 14

Antebellum 
1823-1893-Civil War
Free
Emigration to Canada West 
Appeal to respectablity- ideals of independence, willing to work need not suffer

Question 15

Martin Delany

Answer 15

Antebellum
1820-1876 Civil War
Free
Black nationalist
Leave if must, but stay and fight for what you worked for
appeal to law-use of citizenship
Appeal to universal brotherhood
“whites will only repsect those who oppose their usurpation
Appeal to Future-unhindered freedom for children

Question 16

Henry McNeal Turner

Answer 16

Antebellum
Free, Black Nationalist
1834-1915 Civil War
Colonization was the right thing to do.  "there is no manhood future in the US for the Negro"
Appeal to Religion
Appeal for Respectablitity
Curse upon curse

Question 17

Sharon Jacobs

Answer 17

Antebellum
Slave 
Appeal to Womanhood and Respectability-established sisterhood with audience
Appeal to Christianity
Appeal to Experience

Question 18

Solomon Northrup

Answer 18

Antebellum
Captured Freeman
Slavery is a system

Appeal to manhood
Description of Oppression