American Abolitionists

SEMINAR STUDIES IN HISTORY
General Editors: Clive Emsley & Gordon Martel
The effort to abolish slavery produced the Atlantic world's great reform movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
This book focuses on the American abolitionists who struggled against slavery and advocated equal rights for African Americans in the United States. Blacks, whites, men and women, southern slaves and northern agitators became participants in the conflict between North and South that led to the Civil War in 1861 and general emancipation in 1865. Some of these activists advocated non-violence, while others - including slave rebels - engaged in antislavery violence.
This provocative account provides a brief general history of the movement to abolish slavery, told through
# numerous excerpts from abolitionist writings
# a chapter on abolitionists and the origins of the women's rights movement
# an extensive Glossary of terms and a Who's Who guide to key figures
The complex history of the American antislavery movement is unravelled and explained through the story of its contentious and dedicated activists.
STANLEY HARROLD is Professor of History at South Carolina State University and author of 'The Abolitionists and the South'.

This book, the latest in the Seminar Studies in History series, examines the movement to abolish slavery in the US, from the origins of the movement in the eighteenth century through to the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in 1865. Books in this Seminar Studies in History series bridge the gap between textbook and specialist survey and consists of a brief "Introduction" and/or "Background" to the subject, valuable in bringing the reader up-to-speed on the area being examined, followed by a substantial and authoritative section of "Analysis" focusing on the main themes and issues. There is a succinct "Assessment" of the subject, a generous selection of "Documents" and a detailed bibliography. Stanley Harrold provides an accessible introduction to the subject, synthesizing the enormous amount of literature on the topic. American Abolitionists explores "the roles of slaves and free blacks in the movement, the importance of empathy among antislavery whites for the suffering slaves, and the impact of abolitionism upon the sectional struggle between the North and the South". Within a basic chronological framework the author also considers more general themes such as black abolitionists, feminism, and anti-slavery violence. For readers interested in American history.

Stanley Harrold is Professor of History at South Carolina State University and author of The Abolitionists and the South.