Town Hall Reflection Rough Draft

 Frederick Douglas 

• No knowledge of bday

• Power of education 

Horse Greely 

• Amherst New Hampshire 

• Journalism and politics 

• Abolition of slavery 

• Threatens democracy

Ross 

• Harriet Tutman 

• Mothers enslaved status 

• Brodus 

• Separated young age 

• 6 

• Met husband → free man

• Challenging 

• Escaped 

• Navigating by stars 

• Steele 

• Taught underground railroad 

• Philly 

Harriet Jacobs

• Freedom not enough

• Had to be spoken

• Anonymous letters sharing experiences 

• Autobiography 

• Sexual and mental embodiments 

• Born slave, die free woman

• For women 

Francis Harbor 

• Baltimore MD 

• Free woman

• Education / moral duty 

• Taught young age in Baltimore 

• Poet, essayist 

• Ohio 

• Helped free from underground railroad 

• Used poems to save them 

• Suffrage and women's right movement 

Isabella Bumphrey 

• NY 

• Born into slavery

• Separated 

• Sold various owners 

• Eventual freedom 

• 9 → sold with sheep for $100

• Harsh and abusive 

• Held onto faith in God

• Couldn't read or write but could pray

• Escaped with daughter 

• Quaker family shelter 

• First taste of freedom

• Peter sold into slavery in Alabama 

• Went to court and fought for him

• First black woman to win case against black man 

• God said to spread purpose of truth 

• Preached across country 

• Abolitionist movement, advocate for women's rights 

• Interconnected 

• Spoke against both

• Am I woman 

• Ohio 

• Race and gender 

• Black women possess strength and dignity 

• Lost most of 13 children 

• Advocate throughout life 

• Civil war 

• Support union 

• Recruiting black men

• Lincoln to discuss 

Lucrecia 

• Nantucket 

• Women's power 

• Women running island 

• Men at sea 

• Knowledge of slavery learned in readings 

• Abolitionist 

• Town to town 

• Women denied right to vote, public speaking 

• Belong in home

• Philly anti slavery society 

• Burned down building/ house 

• Determined 

• 1848

• With friends

• First women's right convention 

• Frederick Douglas

• Resistance and ridicule

Elisabeth Chase

• Quaker family 

• RI

• Beliefs come from father 

• Ideals of antislavery 

• Samuel Chase 

• Anti slavery to abolitionist 

• Lost 5/10 children 

• Believed African Americans be sent back to African countries 

• River Valley → set up first underground railroad station 

• Woman's suffrage association 

• House serves for victims of abuse 

Lenard 

• Born to free parents

• Mixed 

• Bright future 

• Freedom secure → VA

• Washington → worked as butcher 

• 20 free man

• Moved to deep south and saw how bad slavery was

• Conductor of underground railroad

• Wife and 4 kids

• Driver → transported people around 

• Jail for 2 years 

• Purchased land 

• 1846 released 

• New Bedford MA

• Anthony Burns 

• Wanted to save

• Free from Boston jail → didn't go as planned 

• Fundraiser 

• Purchased him

• Civil war 

• Clergy for armed forces 

• Declined

• Lived through 14/15 th amendment

Louisa 

• Writing abilities 

• Books of women being trapped in expectations of society 

• Little women 

• Fever 

• Permanent 

• Influenced next novel → fame 

•  Independence and creativity 

• First women to register to vote in CT

• Never married or children 

• Adopted sisters daughter 

Abby Kelly Foster 

• 20 years traveling as crusader for equality

• First delegate 

• Milbury antislavery 

• Go where least wanted for there you are most needed 

• Raised by quaker family 

• Women demanded to be silent, etc

• American colonization movement 

• Liberator → influenced 

• Delegate to anti slavery convention 

• First public speech for anti slavery

• Milbury anti slavery society 

• Ratification for 14/15th amendments 

Sarah Louisa 

• Poet 

• Wealthy family 

• Confounding Philly anti slavery society → give women abolitionist way to support sister

• 17 began writing 

• Prevented from facing slavery 

• Slavegirls farewell 

Abigail Adams 

• Homemaker 

• No opinions 

• Letters to husband 

• Sep 22 letter 

• James → black servant 

• Attend evening school

• Approved 

• People disapproved 

Suzan Anothony 

• Women's suffrage movement 

• 19th amendment 

• Women now have right to vote 

• Dad owned cotton factory 

• Quakers after 13th birthday 

• House became meeting spot 

• Women's loyal national league 

• White 

• White women's suffrage 

• No women of color suffrages

• God and bible

• Blame North and South 

• Numbers regarding slavery gone up  

Henry Bibb

• Born into slavery

• Father state senator 

• Desire for freedom

• Brutality first hand 

• Lost mother and brothers 

• 1837 → first attempt 

• Fear of being sold and separated from family 

• Did not work 

• 1842 → Detroit

• Worked 

• Shared story and experiences 

• Lecturer 

• Wrote book

• Fight for abolition of slavery → purpose of life

• First black newspaper 

• Canada for escaped slaves 

John Brown 

• 1800

• CT

• Calvinists 

• Treated slaveboy worse than him

• Do whatever it took to abolish slavery 

• Drive cattle for 4 years

• 16 → church

• Blind 

• Couldn't continue and minister → changed life 

• Ohio 

• Met wife 

• 7 children 

• Work 

• Wife died 

• Married 17 year old 

• 13 kids 

• Bankruptcy

• Donated money 

• Kansas Nebraska act 

• Traveled to Kansas 

• Podawattane massacre 

• Bleeding Kansas 

• 1859 → raid on Harpers ferry

• Charged treason, murder, incitement

• Sentenced to be hung  

Nat Turner 

• Unknown father 

• Religion 

• Messenger from God

• The prophet 

• Solar eclipse 

• Sign from God 

• Attacked slave owner and his family 

• Recruit 75 other slaves and attack rest 

• Hid in cave 

• Confessions of Nat Turner

• Lords will 

William Loyd Garrison

• Newbury port MA

• Sell candy, wood

• Baptist priest 

• Turned home age 11

• Ben Lundy 

• Jail for defamation  

• Liberator 

• Worked with Fred Douglas 

• Constitution viewed as pro slavery 

• Freeing slave states separated 

• Up until civil war

    Many of these abolitionists that I learned about from the Town Hall Posts had similarities, differences, but everyone I learned about all had the same mindset on the topic of slavery, and that was the desire to abolish it. Every person who was discussed in these posts lead or were apart of some sort of initiative whose goal was to reach the goal of abolishing slavery. The one takeaway that all of these abolitionists lead me to is that the problem of slavery was getting out of hand, and active contributions to fight towards the end the ongoing problem needed to be established.  

    Some interesting things I recognized were the connections between the beliefs of all of the people. Many of them relied and mentioned God and religion. 

    Sojourner Truth was a black woman born into slavery. She was the first abolitionist who mentioned God when she was separated from her family and sold along with nine sheep. She was perceived as the same worth of the nine sheep that she was sold along with. She mentioned she held onto her faith with God thought this whole ordeal. She used the faith of her religion to help her get through being separated from her family at such a young age. This whole experience caused her to start her active participation in the fight to end slavery when she took a white man to court and won the case. This would not be possible without her faith in God that she held with her since the day she was separated from her family. 

    Nat Turner was another abolitionist who used religion to share his beliefs on whether or not slavery should be abolished. He believed that he was a messenger from God, which caused him to start his protests, which took the form of a rebellion. He reveals his faith in God when he mentioned how he believed that the solar eclipse was a sign from God. These points show the extent to which Turner devoted his faith to God because of the way he believes abstract ideas and events were due to Gods doings. 

    Another interesting fact that I took note of was the differences between the effort of abolitionists who were born free versus the abolitionists who faced the struggles of slavery first hand, at some point. 

Francis Harbor was a poet and essayist, born in Baltimore, Maryland, who was born a free woman. She preached for the abolishment of slavery in the means of using her educational background. She is said to have used poems to help save the slaves as well as participate in a suffrage and women’s rights movement. 

On the other hand, for example, Sojourner Truth was a slave who was born into slavery and faced all the hardships including being separated from her family at a young age and lack of education, as well as so much more. The way she preaches for the abolishment of slavery differentiates itself from the way Harbor did because she did it on a more personal level that made her audiences feel sympathy. She shared her story and her experiences to win the side of her listeners. She was so devoted about her case that she preached across the country and continued to advocate through her life. 

Although Sarah Louisiana's parents were slaves, Sarah was their first kid born free. She takes her advantage of this by expressing her wishes for the abolition of slavery by writing. Since she was born free, she was able to learn to read and write as well as get an education, which is how she known for her poetry. She uses her poetic talents to write about her first hand experiences learning about how bad slavery was from her parents, and sharing that struggle with the rest of the world.  

Henry Bibb is another example of an African American who was born into slavery and used his experiences to share and educate others as a form of attempt to abolish slavery. In 1842, after escaping slavery, he moved to Detroit to work and that’s where he started his attempt of abolishing slavery. After his escape from slavery, he became a lecturer and wrote a book based on his personal experiences to help the cause. 

All of these abolitionists may have used different tactics to prove their point about how slavery needed to be abolished. The similar theme we see in every single one of their tactics is their endless effort to push for the abolishment of slavery and give women the rights they deserve. We use these similarities and differences to work together to see how and why each abolitionist acted in the ways they did.