In 1855, the flashpoint was Kansas. Samantha Higgins Getty Images Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA Gregory Patterson The master made a great pet of me, while the Negro boy was badly clothed, poorly fed, and beaten before my eyes with iron shovels or any other thing that came first to hand. Maxine Bentley Susan Demirjian Narrator:George Latimer had arrived in Boston in the fall of 1842, only to be thrown in jail at the request of a Virginia planter. He telegraphed ahead with instructions to destroy the contents of his desk. Jarrod Russell Vance Philips A stone-throwing crowd had recently forced one of Garrison's allies to abandon a speech. Douglas Sloan National Archives Dianna Reardon, Key Makeup Nikita Moyer Shawn Jones R. Blakeslee Gilpin, Historian:What Stowe sees there is a human thing. "Here you see your handiwork. James Armistead Lafayette - Revolutionary Spy (1760 - August 9, 18, Help your students connect with history when studying, songs to help shape classroom conversations regarding America's road to revolution!This worksheet facilitates students' analysis of, Marquis de Lafayette, John Laurens, & Hercules MulliganEarly abolitioni, songs to help shape classroom conversations regarding America's road to revolution!Analysis facilitates students' analysis of how, following historical topics:Hamilton's childhoodHamilton's role in, Caribbean sugar & slave tradeAn introduction to America's Founding FathersPolitics in, Historical Figure Study (Frederick Douglass), United States. State officials could never again take part in the recapture of a fugitive slave. Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):I was born in Tuckahoe, in Talbot County, Maryland. From his jail cell, Brown kept up a stream of correspondence and interviews, which were breathlessly reported throughout the North. It's a Godsend. Bringing to life the intertwined stories of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Brown, the Abolitionists takes place during some of the most violent and contentious decades in American history. 2a. It's like a family quarrel where they're airing each other's dirty laundry, and it's not a pretty sight. Yet, as a peace man -- an "ultra" peace man -- I am prepared to say, "Success to every slave insurrection at the South.". We are the spark that will set this country ablaze. Gathia Gillespie Slave Auctioneer (Brian Elder):What will you give for this woman? Jennifer Saunders But her appearance in Rochester sparked rumors, and when she moved into Douglass's home those rumors blossomed into a full-blown scandal. As soon as she joined him in New York, they were married in a safe house by a fellow runaway. Elijah Lovejoy's death struck at something deep within John Brown, conjuring up a memory that had haunted him for years. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who had warned of the evils of slavery inUncle Tom's Cabin, saw the war as divine retribution. As those years of turmoil and hardship passed from living memory into myth, the Union itself came to seem ever more precious. Radicals. I cant recollect of ever seeing her by the light of day. James Brewer Stewart, Historian:Garrison begins to suspect that every part of American society is infected by a deep moral disease. For abolitionists, it was a stunning victory, but they weren't done. In Boston, William Lloyd Garrison wondered whether Brown was involved. What'll you give? Garrison and New York businessman Lewis Tappan hoped to build on this momentum with a bold plan to directly confront Southern slaveholders and their supporters. Kevin Hershberger Ian Mosley-Duffy In the summer of 1849, the fight over slavery was suddenly eclipsed as cholera swept through cities across the country. Over the course of the day they sacked the town, while the inhabitants fled. Thomas Petersen, Best Boy Electrics This is not the punishment of man. Angelina Grimk (Jeanine Serralles):I stand before you as a Southerner, exiled from the land of my birth by the sound of the lash, and the piteous cry of the slave. Cara White, Post Production Tom Trigo, Location Assistants Over the years, Brown had attracted a network of abolitionist supporters. Denyse EllingtonJohn Browns Wife Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):Good Lord, man. But in the fall of 1850, the country stepped back from the brink, when Congress adopted what became known as "The Great Compromise." The two men -- one a former slave, the other an impoverished printer -- are among the greatest civil rights activists in American history. A meal like this is a rare pleasure these days. Mary Dutton (Virginia Fields):He wants to be noticed! Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):I never saw enthusiasm before. You lost all the fluids in your body, you were wracked by convulsions, and there was nothing that anybody could do. Narrator:Shortly after arriving in Boston, Garrison happened to meet an itinerant publisher who was raising money for his one-man anti-slavery newspaper. He's up here! Rochester Public Library / Democrat and Chronicle Douglass brushed the talk aside. Fern Gnesin It's a free soil party committed to the non-extension of slavery. Drivers Art Resource, NY In December of 1865, the United States was finally cleansed of its original sin when the 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution, banning slavery in all the states, forever. Abolitionists were baffled. He never forgives Douglass. Narrator:Frederick Douglass was alone in a terrifying new world. Additional licenses can be purchased at a discount for others to use in your department. They seem now to be having had anticipated all of these things that are happening. Early on, Abolitionists used the practice of "moral suasion". But I was young and this is very different. I was five. Massachusetts Historical Society William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff, audio):Let Southern oppressors tremble, let their Northern apologists tremble -- let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble. Carol Berkin, Historian:Angelina thinks he walks on water. Spencer Gentry Joan D. Hedrick, Historian:Leaving Cincinnati allowed Harriet to look back at those 18 years there and to process that experience of the slave riots, Charley's death, the Fugitive Slave Law, and it all came together in a vision. And it's your business too! Carol Berkin, Historian:And he writes back to her, "You're young and you have too much pride, and you're not helping the cause." For Garrison, it was yet more proof that the Republic itself had been corrupted at birth, its original sin implanted in a founding document written largely by slaveholders. You don't do it by playing on the outrage. Narrator:In November of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president without carrying a single slaveholding state. Phillis Wheatley - Poet (c. 1753 - December 5, 1784) Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):I was so nervous I could barely stand. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Ryan Callahan He had few friends or allies. Far from Garrison's Boston headquarters, Douglass was free to explore the political, and even militant, anti-slavery strategies that were circulating in Rochester. The postal campaign became a phenomenon. Here we have proof positive that there is an utter disregard for the compromises that have been made to found this American republic, to try to keep this thing running. Whispered accounts of fugitives running from the slave catchers for nights on end, coming within sight of freedom, only to hear the hounds closing in. I could not always obey, for it did not satisfy me to simply narrate wrongs; I felt like denouncing them. The ties between North and South had been replaced by resentment and suspicion. As of yet, no white Americans could imagine turning millions of dollars worth of slaves into millions of black compatriots. Grimk's pain and anger came through in her reply. Nick DiMartino TheNew York Globeurged that, "No public building, not even the streets, must be desecrated by such a gathering of traitors." It had been four years to the day since federal troops evacuated Sumter. William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff, audio):My Dear Wife: I am going to try to write you a few lines with my own hand. Sarah Miles Smith / Should earth against my soul engage James Brewer Stewart, Historian:Garrison went to Baltimore and there boarded with free blacks. John Brown (T. Ryder Smith):I do, Douglass. At Fort Sumter, Garrison reminisced about the 30-year anti-slavery struggle, marveling at the transformation that had taken place. Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA We've been telling you for decades that there's a slave power conspiracy out there of presidents, Supreme Court members, of congresspeople, of bankers, of ship owners, to not only preserve but expand this system of slavery until it dominates every aspect of American society and economy." I was just a boy -- hushed, terrified, stunned. Troublemakers. Anna had sewn his sailor disguise, and sold her featherbed to give him the money he needed. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Kate Lyn Sheil):It was God's will that the slave mothers, whose tears nobody regarded, should have with them a great company of weepers, that the Free States, who refused to listen when they were told of starvation, cold, and barbarous cruelty perpetrated on the slave, should have starvation, cold, privation, and barbarous cruelty doing its work among their own sons. The only thing in the American economy worth more as simply a financial asset was the land itself, and no one really quite knows how to value North America. Sharif Folks William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan Amanda Deprez In the spring of 1846 the United States went to war with Mexico, hoping to gain vast territories in the Southwest. Antonio Perez Kemp What is seen as this sort of idiosyncratic, peculiar Southern institution actually had an enormous economic significance in the national economy of the United States. Floyd Henderson As fate would have it, he had come upon the new home of Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family, including a newborn named after the baby they had buried in Cincinnati. Angelina Grimk (Jeanine Serralles, audio):Can't you just stand here side-by-side with us? There is a true partnership that can go forward. Leiv CleggTeenaged Frederick Douglass Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Theodore Weld had committed himself totally to the anti-slavery cause, and had even pledged not to marry until the slaves were free. Fragmentary reports of the uprising spread across the country. I read your book, sir. This viewing guide provides guiding questions for students for Part 3 of the Abolitionists: American Experience and an exit ticket to check for understanding. Edward Kelahan In some cases, abolitionists themselves were the targets, as when a New York mob burned Lewis Tappan's house to the ground. William Herndon assured him that he and Lincoln were working to the same end. A new world burst upon my agitated vision. But when he gets to the stone quarry, Brown presents a very different plan. Narrator:Garrison and his fellow abolitionists had roused an enemy far more tenacious, entrenched, and violent than they had ever imagined. Bravo Studios, New York, NY Liberators. John Stauffer, Historian:His British sympathizers sent Thomas Auld a note saying, "We have your slave. Can you do that? The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made the hunting down of escaped slaves, even in free states, fully legal. On the floor of the United States Senate, Brooks beat Sumner with the gold head of his heavy cane as Sumner struggled to free himself from his desk. But he's made this decision that it matters not. Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):The abolitionists of this country were never a numerous class, but lately death has been busy in reducing their already thinned ranks. Sold to the gentleman here. Jordan Swenson Since then the slave population of the United States had doubled to four million. His first experience of slavery would haunt him to his grave. Dewey Gartland Michelle Muller Stacy Simon John Brown (T. Ryder Smith):I had hoped for more men, of course. Garrison was horrified by descriptions of the slave pens where men, women, and children were held, awaiting shipment further South, and he began to think that ending slavery was the cause that could give meaning to his life. We sit here, all of us, debating this point of law, whether the Constitution says this or that, and in the meantime, day after day, year after year, the slaveholders are free to do their worst. American Slavery As It Iswas a book made up of first-hand accounts of slavery, handbills for runaway slaves, court records, and the words of slave owners themselves. Narrator:As news of the event filtered out, the city grew tense. But at the beginning of July, Charley, Stowe's beloved little boy, was taken ill. Joan D. Hedrick, Historian:She called him her summer child. Victory meant abolition. Now that's a huge thing. Narrator:As Douglass was meeting with John Brown, a chain of events was being set in motion that would transform the future of slavery, and of America. Russ Wade And after that point, that divide can never be bridged. It was the glory of this man that he could stand alone with the truth, and calmly await the result. Boston Mob Leaders They vowed to spread the anti-slavery gospel to every city, town, and village, and they agreed to use what they called "moral suasion" to convert slaveholders to the cause. Adrienne Weiss Chief Justice Roger Taney saw the case as an opportunity to settle the question of slavery once and for all. The media assets in this collection feature historical reenactments and expert interviews that . Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):We shall stay here and watch the current of events, and serve the cause of freedom and humanity in any way that shall be open to us. W. Caleb McDaniel, Historian:There's no evidence that Garrison'sLiberatorhad any influence on Nat Turner. There is "a class of professed abolitionists in Cincinnati," she wrote, but they are "unfashionable" and are "regarded as a species of moral mono-maniacs.". The Liberatorhad become not only the most influential voice of abolition, but the symbol of its tenacity. Thomas ColemanShields Green Jane Sakowski Bell Daniel Castle King Still, Garrison was wary: Lincoln seemed to be hedging. Narrator:Douglass listed dates, places, and, most dangerous of all, his owner's name. Anthony HobbsYoung Frederick Douglass President Lincoln's education with and among the "white trash" of Kentucky was most unfortunate for his moral development, so that there seems to be nothing elevated and noble in his character. Bridgeman Art Library Lee Rogalski, Location Managers It's not an abolitionist party. Only 24 hours removed from slavery, Douglass found himself wandering among the dazzling wonders of Broadway. There is a kind of work that Garrison can do, precisely because he is a white man in America in the 1830s. Christopher Morrow The Abolitionists - Episode 1 - Worksheet and Key PDF & Digital The news of Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox came the day of Garrison's arrival. Dorry Marie John Brown had never put much stock in Garrison's talk of peace and persuasion -- "milk and water" abolitionism, he called it. Narrator:Shields Green and the other captives had already been sentenced to hang. David W. Blight, Historian:The first American Republic, the one invented in the Revolution in the late 18th century, had to die. Earlier on you were not putting your life into danger if you criticized slavery. "SUASION" COMES FROM SAME WORD AS IN "PERSUASION"; MEANS TO CONVINCE OR TO COUNSEL. Donna Jerome Viola The invention of the cotton gin had led to a massive increase in cotton production, making slavery indispensable to both the South and the North. He was determined to be better than what white, said he was. In return for allowing California to join the Union as a free state, Southerners were granted the prospect of someday forming slave states in Utah and New Mexico. Narrator:For the first few months, Douglass's newspaper hemorrhaged money. Frita Walker Jennifer Fleming James Brewer Stewart, Historian:The abolitionists' argument is that all of this blood and treasure is gonna be wasted unless slavery dies. Daniel Bainbridge Rob Rapley, Original Concept Developed by There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. Seth Wood Narrator:The following night, a crowd broke into the empty hall and set fire to the building. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas American Experience: The Abolitionists. Just a few weeks earlier, the president of the United States had sent a massive detachment of federal troops to Boston, all to return a lone runaway slave to captivity. Adam Ferguson He traveled around the Northeast, gathering a handful of allies among white reformers, but not enough to support his venture. From Boston, he directed an energetic campaign of meetings, petitions, and publicity. The Abolitionists Part 3 PBS A Viewing Guide Questions American Experience Miraculously, Douglass made it to Rochester, where he boarded a boat to Canada. It's going to convert millions of Americans, not to being for immediate abolitionism, not to being for racial equality, but for being against slavery. I urge you. Lisa Figueroa Crawford That left a hole -- I can't express it. Kristen Barry This is from Season 1 Episode 2 Year: 2013, This download is made up of thirty questions, which will help your students to better comprehend, . Narrator:Angelina Weld kept speaking as showers of stones pelted the windows. Narrator:It seemed that the United States was committed to the preservation of slavery. Josh Allen Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum Garrison would have been even more wary had he known the full extent of Brown's plans. I myself was carried away, as you saw. Her health had been severely weakened by her public ordeals, leaving her barely able to cope with the demands of motherhood. The great postal campaign did not bring about the end of what Southerners called "our peculiar institution." Anne Chapman I'm not afraid of you We're not fighting each other, we're fighting the God-damned abolitionists Just relax You back off of me Don't you mess with me, boy. A whole year was pressed into a single day. Photo Collection of the Old Court House Museum, Vicksburg, MS Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):If we fail, we shall go down as we deserve to go down, as a warning to all other nations, which shall come after us. That could be accomplished only by amending the Constitution. Steven Hurwitz Many wondered whether the Union itself could survive. Joseph Christofori Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school district is prohibited. Neither did he have a home, or a family. Mrs. Grimk (Crystal Cupp):Angelina, what are you talking about? The decision to leave Brown would haunt him for the rest of his life. John Brown (T. Ryder Smith):The pleasure is ours, Mr. Douglass. That's a sea change. Julie Roy Jeffrey, Historian:I think he recognized that this was a turning point. There are 50 questions in all. Jim Briggs III John Brown (T. Ryder Smith):Well, sir: In one stroke we shall rouse this nation. But, some made it. The Republican didn't want Garrison's endorsement -- in fact, any connection to the controversial printer would be political poison. Within a year the Anti-Slavery Society had flooded the nation with over a million pieces of abolitionist literature, along with medals, emblems, bandanas, chocolate wrappers, songs, and readers for small children. This Video Response Worksheet and Key is based on the PBS documentary series "American Experience - The Abolitionists - Episode 2: 1838-1854." You will receive a zip file which contains a Video Response Worksheet (in both PDF and editable DOCX formats) and a Video Response Worksheet Key (in both PDF and editable DOCX formats). Kevin Lawrence ODonnell Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):Boston has become the hunting ground of merciless man-stealers. And now, at last, John Brown was on his way to war, in Kansas. Amula Gobah Gerald Williams, Jr. One white friend read the document and advised Douglass to burn it. Not immediately, of course, but even a few thousand slaves in this vicinity will fly to our aid. Janice Flood Cheryl Stark Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):Mr. Lincoln is a genuine representative of American prejudice and Negro hatred, and far more concerned for the preservation of slavery than for any principle of justice and humanity. Narrator:Douglass took hope in Lincoln's candidacy, and publicly endorsed him. Joan D. Hedrick, Historian:And it was said that when the novel was put on stage at the National Theatre in New York, there was not one dry eye when Eliza reached the other side of the river. Maren Reese, Costume Assistants The abolitionists are ardent desirers of respectability for their movement. PDF VIDEO: HE ABOLITIONISTS WORKSHEET - State College Area School District We'll get him Hey, we'll get him on the way back out! I never saw joy before. In the summer of 1829, Garrison moved to Baltimore, to take a job at the publisher's newspaper. I pray to God to let me do a little, and to cause my cry for them to be heard. It almost doubles the size. few I show my Social Studies classes. Boston Athenaeum David Roberts American Experience: The Abolitionists - amazon.com Artee Fabrics Partisans on each side of the struggle perceived a mortal threat: whichever way Kansas went, the territories further west would likely go the same way. Carol Berkin, Historian:The leaders of the movement are on the stage, and as they're speaking, as they're holding their meeting, they begin to hear noise outside, and the noise grows and grows and grows. Douglass would have none of it. He scrounged around for printing supplies and convinced a colleague to loan him a few reams of paper. Slave Auctioneer (Brian Elder):Fifty. William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff):All right now. ***This product is a PowerPoint for students to identify, significance causes, leader(s), and effects of. The abolitionist movement that emerged in the early 1830s was combative, uncompromising, and insistent upon an immediate end to slavery. Purchased separately, all three cost $4.47. Narrator:William Lloyd Garrison had been waging war against slavery for 25 years, but tonight, victory seemed inconceivable. And, like practically every other abolitionist, endorses the war, for the Union, as a war to eliminate slavery. an abolitionist; founded the newspaper, The Liberator. Nevertheless, Brown dominated the proceedings. Henry! The City of New Castle, DE Post Production Sound Services Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts Pro-slavery forces really have the upper hand. T. Ryder Smith, Edited by 3 Ask students to guess that they are runaway slaves or anti-slavery sympathizers in the 1830s. Mary Lugo John Stauffer, Historian:For Douglass, what better symbol of democracy and of racial equality is there in the United States is if the federal government arms and gives uniforms to black soldiers and tells them to kill white men. PDF TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS from THE ABOLITIONISTS, PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE David W. Blight, Historian:That was in some ways the turning point of Frederick Douglass's life, and certainly the turning point in the historical life of African Americans. When I Can Read My Title Clear He's always trying to discern what God wants for him. , Video Response Worksheets serve as great emergency sub plans. Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):A free state around me, and the free earth under my feet! PDF Famous Abolitionists Lesson - Social Studies School Service L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah There, Lyman Beecher, one of the country's most famous preachers, had recently moved his family. The Isenburg Collection at AMC Toronto Julia Griffiths' editorial skills and business savvy keptThe North Starafloat. Stowe later wrote that there were circumstances of such great bitterness about the manner of his death that she didn't think she could ever be reconciled for it unless his death allowed her to do the some great good to others. Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):But how? These children were robbed from me, and I stood desolate. I soon found, however, that they were soundly hated by slaveholders. He had lived among free blacks, had secretly learned to read, and there he had come to hope that slavery might not be eternal. R. Blakeslee Gilpin, Historian:She's confronted with it in such an intimate way, and I think that never leaves her. This Video Response Worksheet and Key is based on the PBS documentary series "American Experience - The Abolitionists - Episode 1: 1820s-1838." You will receive a PDF file which contains a Video Response Worksheet and Key and a TPT Digital Activity for students (worksheet only). If you don't mind my asking -- how did you first realize that you were a slave? Now that this man has filled up the measure of his years, now that the leaf has fallen to the ground as all leaves must fall, let us guard his memory, let us try to imitate his virtues, and endeavor as he did to leave the world freer, nobler, and better than we found it. Garrison, Douglass, and Stowe would each meet the president at the White House. Kathryn Stephens Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks, audio):Slaveholders have forfeited even the right to live. I only saw her a few times, at night. On I have no language to express the feelings of my heart. It had once seemed likely that it would disappear in the South as well, but no more. William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff, audio):My Dear Wife: Is it not strange that Douglass has not written a single line to me since he left me on a bed of illness? So perish all compromises with tyranny! The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University Try to recover him." Narrator:On January 1st, 1831, Garrison's long-awaited day arrived. Sir -- God has placed these mountains here for a reason. In the 1820s, Charleston's aristocracy was one of the wealthiest societies on earth. American Residuals & Talent, Inc. **************************************************************************. He and four of the survivors, including Shields Green, were trapped in an engine house at the armory. How do you want the world to remember you? In many ways he reflects this for the rest of black America, that while Garrisonian tactics were just, earnest, they simply were not options that he thought would eventually lead to the end of slavery. I stand before you as a repentant slaveholder. In Charleston, 3,000 people destroyed anti-slavery materials, and then burned Garrison in effigy. And more and more and more as the war goes on, it's a realization that many, many Northerners come to share. Reeling from his brush with death, Garrison retreated to the Connecticut countryside with his wife Helen, who was pregnant with their first child. Investigators seeking a link to the abolitionists found what they needed in Brown's papers: an innocuous note signed by Frederick Douglass two years earlier, inviting Brown to dinner. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Historian:Douglass needs for slavery to be eradicated, and he needs it to happen as quickly as possible. R. Mark Hughes Charleston Library Society, Charleston, SC But as Garrison came into contact with Baltimore's large free black population, he began to embrace a far more radical vision of America's future. But the Union had to win, or the Proclamation would mean nothing. It means that a Southerner can hunt down any black in free soil and say, "You're my slave." William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff):No, no I don't. On the other, it's a reality. Douglass fled the country for Great Britain. William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff, audio):I am willing to be persecuted, imprisoned, and bound for advocating African rights, and I should deserve to be a slave myself, if I shrunk from that duty or danger. W. Caleb McDaniel, Historian:When Garrison receives Angelina Grimk's letter, he sees a Southern woman who is confirming everything that the abolitionists have been saying about slavery's evils. Dick Spaulding In the answer to that question lay the country's destiny. Frederick Douglass. And suddenly he had an idea that he had a much expanded mission that did not simply speak to the question of slavery but spoke to the question of race. Walter Craigie Narrator:At dawn the Marines stormed the engine house, capturing Brown and his surviving men. "I live a new life." Charmaine Crowell-White They will never respect themselves otherwise, nor will they be respected. Narrator:Word of the abolitionists' efforts spread, even reaching the slave Frederick Douglass. Narrator:With every headline, every petition, every controversy, the abolitionists were dragging the fight over slavery to the center of national life.