Race and Revolution/to Make Our World Anew -- Research Paper
Research Questions:
1. Utilizing specific examples from both books, explain how the actions of African Americans damaged the institution of slavery and ultimately led to its demise.
African Americans damaged the institution of slavery by organizing rebellions, working together to facilitate successful escapes, writing petitions to government officials and any other way they thought they could get their message heard.
The most successful means of damaging slave agency was through written appeals and petitions. Several African Americans submitted such documents to Congress, newspapers and other narrations. These documents include Caesar Sarter’s Essay on Slavery; a petition of New England slaves, Peter Bestes, Sambo Freeman, Felix Holbrook and Chester Joie written to the Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, and the General Court of Boston; a letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson, then the sitting Secretary of State of Virginia; Absalom Jones and Richard Allen’s A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793 and Absalom Jones’ petition to the President, Senate and House of Representatives on January 23, 1797, which was signed by Jacob Nicholson, Jupiter Nicholson, Job Albert and Thomas Pritchet; Letters from a Man of Colour on a Late Bill Before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813, written by James Forten; and George Lawrence’s An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1813. (Nash 2001, 167-201). Meanwhile, David Walker’s Appeal asked the blacks to take an eye for an eye. (Kelley and Lewis 2005, 216). Martin Delany published a book in 1852 which he titled The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States. In his book, Delany urged the African American population to consider emigrating to South or Central America or even to the unpopulated American west. (Kelley and Lewis 2005, 217).
Escape attempts were another way
1. Utilizing specific examples from both books, explain how the actions of African Americans damaged the institution of slavery and ultimately led to its demise.
African Americans damaged the institution of slavery by organizing rebellions, working together to facilitate successful escapes, writing petitions to government officials and any other way they thought they could get their message heard.
The most successful means of damaging slave agency was through written appeals and petitions. Several African Americans submitted such documents to Congress, newspapers and other narrations. These documents include Caesar Sarter’s Essay on Slavery; a petition of New England slaves, Peter Bestes, Sambo Freeman, Felix Holbrook and Chester Joie written to the Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, and the General Court of Boston; a letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson, then the sitting Secretary of State of Virginia; Absalom Jones and Richard Allen’s A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793 and Absalom Jones’ petition to the President, Senate and House of Representatives on January 23, 1797, which was signed by Jacob Nicholson, Jupiter Nicholson, Job Albert and Thomas Pritchet; Letters from a Man of Colour on a Late Bill Before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813, written by James Forten; and George Lawrence’s An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1813. (Nash 2001, 167-201). Meanwhile, David Walker’s Appeal asked the blacks to take an eye for an eye. (Kelley and Lewis 2005, 216). Martin Delany published a book in 1852 which he titled The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States. In his book, Delany urged the African American population to consider emigrating to South or Central America or even to the unpopulated American west. (Kelley and Lewis 2005, 217).
Escape attempts were another way
Bibliography: Nash, Gary B. Race and Revolution. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2001. Kelley, Robin D. G. and Earl Lewis, eds. To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans to 1880. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.