C3) press & literature in abolitionism Flashcards
need to do more on detail of UTC & other books
what did garrison beleive in?
- immediate emancipation & integration of prev enslavedppl into A soc- extremist view among abs at time
- a pacifist, but he covered the civvil war in TL, and incl letters from black Union soldiers
- supported women’s rights, which he used NP to promote, but this did cause a rift in ab movement, as man prominant abs wanted to focus their efforts entirely on sl
what society did garrison found?
- interracial org the New England Anti-Sl Society in 1832
what NP did garrison start?
- The Liberator
- weekly 4 page radical ab NP- biggest in its peakk
- was for political debate & open discussion abt sl & ab
- it ceased publication in 1865 after 13th amendment- he felt its mission had been accomplished
what legal problems surrounded garrison & the liberator?
- it was illegal in some S states
- WLG was indicted in N Carolina for distributing anti-sl material- a reward was put out for his capture. but didn’t deter him- was v pleased
what was including in The Liberator?
- letters from anti abs
- ‘agents’- touring abs
- free black ppl & women
- fiction & articles on the inhumanity of slavery
how large/ infl was The Liberator at its peak?
- 3,000 copies in circulation a week
- mostly across the North
- funded and largely read by free N black ppl
- ^ so this (75% of readers= blck) did mean it didnt do much actual persuading, but rallied ppl
what was the first black NP?
- Freedom Journal
- not ab
- reporting on issues for black ppl, esp black middle class
- founded 1827- black ppl no longer have to depend on white abs to speak for them in the white press
how did the press help abs?
- spread word
- raised their profile; politicians etc hear what they think
- amplifies voice & causes ppl to think there’s more than there actually are
how did the press cause problems for abs?
- antagonises S & causes it to identify as a more cohesive unit across states- gives S something to rally against- paint all N ppl are abs & NPs speak for all of them
- this leads to S defining itself by its sl & defining N as ab (neither of which are completely true)
how did slaveowners use NPs?
- paid them to publish ads describing fugitive sl
- NPs acted as brokers for sl; facilitated to buying & selling of around 3,400
- NPs= hypocritical- often poems abt freedom/ sympathetic to sl on the same page- profit run
what NP did Frederick Douglass found?
1847- the NOrth Star- wide issues covered- FSA
- read by black pop, presidents & congressmen- used it to keep abreast of activities of the anti sl movement
where did douglass work before setting up his own NP (as free)?
- at The Liberator; was so good ppl Qd if his work could have been written by an ex slave
- an anti sl campaigner/ orator
when was uncle tom’s cabin published and who wrote it?
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
how many copies did Uncle Tom’s cabin sell at dif milestones?
- 1st published in serial form in weekly NP
- sold 10,000 US copies in 1st week
- 300,000 in 1st year
- 2million+ over 1st 1 years in US
- Britain- 1.5million copies in 1st year
what was teh South (as a whole) reaction to UTC?
- banned in S- could be killed if in posession
- travelling Tom shows increased pop- depicted as dumb slave happy in his slavery
- ‘uncle tom’ came to denote a man willing to follow wishes & be subserviant to white As
what books were written in response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin by S?
- Aunt Philis’s Cabin by Mary Eastman, 1852; alt title ‘Southern Life as It Is’; most read anti-tom novel; 20,000-30,000 copies; sl owners & sl as mutually respectful, kind & happy beings; sl is a natural institution & essential to life
- The Planter’s Northern Bride by Caroline Hentz, 1854; - plot incl a planned slave uprising- what Ss fear the most
