HIST 381 - History of Abolitionism

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course follows the trajectory of the movement ot abolish slavery in the United States from the American Revolution to the end of the American Civil War. We follow the career of Samuel Ringgold Ward, who escaped slavery in Maryland and become a prominent abolitionist, newspaper editor, and labor leader. His story is directly enmeshed in the Hudson Valley, where he was a founding member of the Poughkeepsie Anti-Slavery Society at the First Congressional Church. Some of the topics we cover include the transnational networks that formed the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad, the spiritual, moral, and economic critiques of slavery, and the relationship between black and white abolitionists. We read documents that were deeply implicated in the struggle against slavery, including abolitionist pamphlets, testimonies by the enslaved, newspaper reports, and poetry. Isobel Plowright.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS