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Stowage on the Slave Ship Brookes, 1788
This 18th century sketch depicts how enslaved people were packed into ships on the Middle Passage.
January 4, 2018
53 Results
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Informational
War with Mexico
In his editorial, Douglass argues that the Mexican War was a mechanism to expand slavery.
January 5, 2018
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Informational
Inaugural Editorial
William Lloyd Garrison’s "Inaugural Editorial" was published in the first issue of The Liberator, an influential radical abolitionist newspaper, on January 1, 1831.
July 7, 2014
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Informational
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” was a speech given by abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y., at an event commemorating American independence.
July 3, 2014
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Visual
Poster Warning Blacks in Boston: Kidnappers
The Fugitive Slave Law, passed September 18, 1850, denied a jury trial to any individual accused of escaping from slavery.
December 15, 2017
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Informational
An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America
Henry Highland Garnet was an African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and newspaper editor. Garnet delivered “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, N.Y., on Aug. 16, 1843.
July 2, 2014
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Literature
The Confederate Spy: A Story of the War of 1861
This is an excerpt from a work of fiction about the Civil War. It expresses a pro-Northern view while at the same time arguing that enslaved persons do not desire freedom.
December 15, 2017
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Informational
The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice (1853)
This argument from William Goodell underscores the moral and legal precedents used to break up families for commodification.
December 14, 2017
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Informational
The Kidnapping Case: Narrative of the Seizure and Recovery of Solomon Northrup
This is an 1853 newspaper account of Solomon Northup’s experiences and the trials of those involved in his kidnapping and enslavement.
December 15, 2017
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Informational
Frederick Douglass Describes Enslavers
In this specific passage, which comes from the book’s first chapter, Douglass describes his enslavers. The passage focuses on Douglass’s memory of his first encounter with the brutality of his enslavers.
January 6, 2018
