Unit 5 Notes 1
Abolition
&
Women’s Rights
Abolition: the movement to end slavery,
began in the late 1700’s.
Abolitionists strongly believed that the US
needed to end slavery to fulfill its promise of
liberty and equality.
The most outspoken white
abolitionist was William Lloyd
Garrison. He started a well
circulated antislavery newspaper
called The Liberator in 1831.
On occasion, abolitionists were
attacked. William Lloyd Garrison
was once dragged through the
streets of Boston.
Ultimately, southerners saw the
abolitionist movement as a threat to
their way of life! They were going to
take away their work force.
Frederick Douglass
• Born Fredrick Bailey to a white father
and a black mother
• At age 8 he was taught how to read by
from his Masters wife.
• He escaped by train with a borrowed
pass. To avoid recapture he changed his
name.
•After traveling for some time, he learned that his slave
owners had petitioned for his return.
•Douglass escaped to Great Britain where he continued to
speak out against slavery.
•When Douglass returned, he bought his freedom.
•He began publishing an Abolitionist newspaper called the
North Star.
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree, she
was also an escaped slave.
During her life, she challenged injustice wherever
she saw it. She was an abolitionist, women's rights
activist and a devout (dedicated) Christian.
In fact, she changed her
name in 1843 to reflect
her life’s work: to
sojourn (temporary stay
in a place) and “declare
the truth to the people.”
Harriet Tubman and the
Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad was not
a real railroad but a network of
abolitionists that secretly helped
runaway slaves to reach freedom in
the North and in Canada.
Whites and free blacks acted as
“conductors” to guide slaves to
stations (abolitionist homes, caves,
churches) to spend the night and get
food.
Harriet Tubman was the most
famous conductor. She led 300
slaves (including her parents) to
freedom during 19 trips.
Tubman herself was an escaped
slave who was struck in the head
by an overseer when she was 13.
This caused her to have fainting
spells throughout her life.
She escaped from slavery with
help from a local abolitionist
who directed her along the
Underground Railroad
She made it to Philadelphia, PA in
1849 and joined the UGRR
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
After returning from the
1840 World Antislavery
Convention in London ,
(they were not allowed in
because the men said it
was not their place)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Lucretia Mott
decided to hold the first
national women’s
rights convention.
In 1848, in Seneca Falls,
New York they gathered
to discuss the issues
relating to women’s
rights. This was known as
the Seneca Falls
Convention.
They wrote a Declaration
of Sentiments which
proclaimed, “We hold these
truths to be self evident:
that all men and women are
created equal.”