Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
Speech delivered before the Rhode Island State Anti-Slavery Society in response to a resolution regarding the help of abolitionists in finding employment for freed slaves.
Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 795 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Impassioned speech encouraging the continued efforts towards abolition. The speaker emphasized that he agreed with any method it would take to bring about an end to slavery.
Description of file(s): PDF 8 page, 2,403 word document (text and images)
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Title: Colored American - July 28, 1838
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer expresses his belief that pro-slavery factions, unable to argue their case rationally with the abolitionists, are now resorting to terror to accomplish their mission to drive free African Americans from the country.
Description of file(s): one scanned, one columned, newspaper page
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Title: Colored American - July 29, 1837
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer responds to an article from another newspaper mentioning that no matter how rich or how well educated African Americans may become that they will never "...elevate ... to the level of the whites, in the United States."
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
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Title: Colored American - June 23, 1838
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer assures white society that African American men have no desire for amalgamation. He suggests instead that the continued system of slavery insures amalgamation more than the freedom of choice in marriage partners among freed African Americans.
Description of file(s): one scanned, one columned, newspaper page
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Title: Colored American - June 30, 1838
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer is dismayed by the attention to the idea of mixing of the races (amalgamation) that seems to be the focus of those in favor of colonization. The fear is that freedom will encourage amalgamation, which he assures the white population is not an issue. He points to southern slavery as more conducive to amalgamation. Encouraging this fear is more a ploy by colonizationists than any real threat to society.
Description of file(s): one scanned, one columned, newspaper page
Speaker or author: Douglass, H. Ford
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- New York Historical Society -- Anti-Slavery Pamphlets
Speech in reply to John Mercer Langston who the speaker accuses of not being clear regarding his support of colonization. The speaker argues for immigration as a solution to the questions that arise regarding the nominally free people living in the U.S.
Description of file(s): PDF 18 page, 5,605 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Douglass, H. Ford
Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle
The speaker offered his thoughts on prejudice, saying, "When we are free, men will find it to be a fact that there is no prejudice against color. It is the condition, not the color. My color serves as a badge, indicating that I belong to a race which in this land has been doomed to degredation. And just so long as we consent to occupy a subordinate condition, and submit without murmuring to our degradation, there is no prejudice against us. So long as the black man is willing to be a slave in this country, all is well enough, but whenever he attempts to take the position of a freeman, it is then the white man seems to hate him." The speaker stressed that prejudice is about slavery, not about skin color.
Description of file(s): PDF 10 page, 2,626 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Moore, John Jamison, 1818-1893.
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Harvard University, Cambridge -- Rare Books and Manuscripts
The speaker addressed the issue of suffrage for all African Americans. He expressed his belief that African Americans had earned their civil and equal rights through patriotism, patience, loyalty, and fighting for their country. He asked that they be given only what any American would claim as a U.S. citizen.
Description of file(s): PDF 7 page, 1,638 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Brief speech addressing the fears expressed within the country regarding the emancipation of the slaves. The speaker emphasized that the fear of amalgamation is groundless since it presupposes an "uncommon attraction on the part of the blacks" to the white race and this was not the case. He encouraged his audience to have faith and trust the path to freedom that lay before them.
Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 336 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech addressing the current question of "what is to be done with the free colored people?" At the time, there were several issues regarding what would happen to the country if the slaves were set free. The speaker addressed the national fears; amalgamation; ideas regarding colonization or "removal"; and irrational concerns about violence. He assured his audience that both races were capable of living together in harmony.
Description of file(s): PDF 18 page, 5,281 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
The speaker emphasized the economic impact of emancipation on a country that had become rich on the backs of its slaves. He spoke about the continued war and the battle that lay ahead for those who were now free. He encouraged patriotism among newly freed slaves and stressed that they were now fighting for their own country and their own freedom. He also addressed the issues of prejudice and fears of amalgamation.
Description of file(s): PDF 14 page, 4,083 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech delivered during a celebration of the August 1st anniversary of the emancipation of the British West Indies. The speaker noted that it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would also abolish slavery. He stressed the challenges of prejudice, lack of education and unemployment that lay ahead for African Americans when slavery is abolished in the U. S.
Description of file(s): PDF 11 page, 3,267 word document (text and images)
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Title: Provincial Freeman - December 16, 1854
Speaker or author: S.
Newspaper or publication: Provincial Freeman (1853 - 1859)
The writer comments on an article by Mrs. Douglass' (possibly Sarah Douglass) that blames the problems of race relationships in the U.S. on amalgamation, the mixing of races through what she believes is illicit behavior. The writer notes that Mrs. Douglass assumes that if a man and woman are of different races that there couldn't possibly be love involved; one must be the victim of the other. Her article implies that people of African descent are too inferior to even be considered worthy of love from their white fellow human beings. The writer notes that this idea detracts from the real problem which is the system of slavery itself.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
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Title: Provincial Freeman - November 17, 1855
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Provincial Freeman (1853 - 1859)
The writer expresses his thoughts on amalgamation. He believes that once society accepts amalgamation as a natural part of humanity there will be peace and harmony in the world.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
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Title: Voice of the Fugitive - February 26, 1851
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Voice of the Fugitive (1851 - 1852)
The writer tells his readers that a Native American tribe is now charging a tax for all free people of color who choose to live on their reservation.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
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Title: Voice of the Fugitive - November 4, 1852
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Voice of the Fugitive (1851 - 1852)
The writer responds to a second letter to the editor published in another newspaper maligning the refugees from slavery living in Canada. By responding to this letter as he does, the writer displays the letter's ignorant author without attacking him. The letter writer's own words are his undoing.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
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Title: Voice of the Fugitive November 18, 1852
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Voice of the Fugitive (1851 - 1852)
The writer addresses directly the author of prejudicial letters, which are claiming major space in another newspaper. The author of these letters is against the settlement created by refugees of slavery living in Canada, as well as any person of African descent.
Description of file(s): three scanned newspaper pages (five columns)
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Title: Weekly Anglo-African - March 23, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
Brief but powerful comment on the injustice of state laws passed to stop interracial marriage and dictate morality ostensibly to prevent amalgamation. The writer focuses on the irony of the passage of these types of laws while at the same time condoning the quick return of female fugitive slaves to their white male masters.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Speaker or author: Craft, William
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Proceedings, British Association for the Advancement of Science
The speaker pointed out to the scientific debate taking place that he didn't understand how the author of an essay on amalgamation in the U.S. could say that the races had not mixed. He believed that two-thirds of African Americans were of mixed race.
Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 263 word document (text and image)
Speaker or author: Craft, William
Newspaper or publication: Inquirer
The speaker challenged the proposition put forth that mixing the races would result in "weak and feeble offspring" and that the race would eventually die out. Those agreeing with the idea of forbidding interracial marriage were not considering the children of slaves and slaveholders that were born out of wedlock. The speaker said that he believed two-thirds of slaves in the U.S. were of mixed blood.
Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 542 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: William G. Hamilton
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Boston Public Library -- Anti-Slavery Collections
Address given before the Fourth Annual Convention of the Free People of Color of the United States in New York promoting the improvement of freed slaves and speaking against the idea of colonization.
Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 1,649 word document (images and text)
Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884
Newspaper or publication: National Anti-Slavery Standard
Anecdotal speech with numerous examples illustrating the hardships and irrationality of slavery. The speaker emphasized the prevalence of amalgamation.
Description of file(s): PDF 12 page, 3,489 word document (text and images)