Introduction
Narratives of colonial America have often indicated that the fight for civil rights was born in Philadelphia. Abolitionists in the city kept the controversy alive with published pamphlets and societies, arguing the immorality of slaveholding. The fight did not convince most people in Philadelphia, but the statement would eventually make the city one of the country’s leading centers of abolition.
In Clint Smith’s insightful book, How the Word Is Passed, readers are taken on a journey through America’s historical landscape (Smith). The narrative advocates establishing a society that recognizes the significance of America’s past to chart an equitable path and to erase its scars. A historical dive into figures like Thomas Jefferson, the plantations, and cemeteries provides context for the suffering Black Americans underwent at the hands of slaveholders and the foundation for the fight for freedom (Smith 18). In this vein, the paper examines prominent early Philadelphians of color and other significant abolitionists in the fight to end slavery.
Congress enacted a prohibition on the importing of enslaved individuals, but these measures had no impact on the domestic slave trade in the United States. Southern individuals vehemently opposed any abolition and instead prioritized slavery as a strategy to maximize earnings from cotton cultivation (Pargas). As a result, abolitionists actively advocated for the abolition of slavery by submitting petitions to Congress, coordinating boycotts, and disseminating media that denounced the institution. William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and William Wells Brown were among the most influential abolitionists.
In 1831, Garrison published the Liberator, a newspaper advocating for abolition (National Park Service). Additionally, Douglass, a formerly enslaved person, presented a first-hand account of his experiences to a substantial audience and authored the well-acclaimed autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass). A larger part of this research focuses on William Wells Brown, his narrative of slavery, and his contributions to the emancipation of Africans from enslavement.
Background
Early Philadelphia and its surrounding region benefited economically from slavery, as it was an Atlantic trading hub. Even before William Penn discovered Pennsylvania, Slave labor was integral to the development of the community. The Dutch and Swedes sold Africans from the modern-day Delaware Avenue auction block near Market Street (D’Onofrio). Even after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, families continued to hold enslaved people throughout the city. Pennsylvania officially abolished slavery in 1780, but many black Pennsylvanians were still in bondage long after the abolition (D’Onofrio).
Pennsylvania legislators became the first in the colonies to pass an abolition law, but lawmakers never actually put forth provisions to free Africans still held in bondage (Bailey). With the act of gradually abolishing slavery, the institution survived for decades in various guises. Indentured servitude had also played a part in the perpetuation of the institution of slavery till just before the Civil War. This servitude lasted longer in age than their Non-African counterparts, where many did not seek true freedom without the intervention of prominent early Philadelphians of color and other significant abolitionists.
Enslaved Africans were subjected to cruel treatment to crush their spirits, acclimate them to obedience, and obliterate memories of their independence because Southern plantation owners were afraid of revolt. The captives were malnourished, worked themselves to death, and many perished from maltreatment, despair, and ill health (Bailey). Despite such hardship, some Philadelphians of color emerged as a voice for the rest in the fight for their freedom.
Calls for abolition began as early as 1793, when an estimated 2,136 Africans gained their freedom in Philadelphia (U.S. History). As of 1800, the number of free Africans had increased, making Philadelphia the country’s largest free black community (U.S. History). Many people seeking freedom used the city as a hub for various escape routes despite the possibility of penalties for aiding fugitives. Still, Philadelphia also had multiple trials to either grant or deny African Americans their freedom.
Leading Philadelphians of Color and Other Notable Abolitionists
Africans who were held in slavery and their offspring could always be lawfully freed by their owners. Some slaveholders emancipated enslaved people during their lifetime, whereas a few chose to do so in their will, such as George Washington. However, it is important to ask why a large number of slaveholders waited until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the 14th Amendment of 1868 required them to liberate their slaves (Library of Congress). The relentless efforts of free African Philadelphians, such as Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, who petitioned Congress with their grievances in 1799, are credited with advancing the emancipation of blacks (Dunkley).
Free Africans persisted in debating and petitioning, publishing newspapers and pamphlets, and advocating for their citizenship and the emancipation of their enslaved brothers and sisters, even after Congress denied their request. In the end, their efforts fueled an expanding global movement against inequality and slavery. Therefore, it is noteworthy to review the prominent early Philadelphians of color and other abolitionists whose relentless fight for equality and justice ultimately led to the freedom of enslaved Africans.
Robert Purvis
Robert Purvis was a prominent anti-slavery crusader born in 1810 to a free black woman and a British immigrant cotton merchant. In 1833, he assisted in the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia, where he coordinated opposition to moves to limit free black civil rights (Engledew). His spirited fight for African freedom enabled him to rise to prominent positions, such as the presidency of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and the chairmanship of the General Vigilance Committee.
He also supported progressive causes other than slavery, acting as the first vice president of the Women’s Suffrage Society and supporting efforts to curb alcohol supply to black societies. Purvis’ pamphlet, “Application of Forty Thousand Citizens, Threatened with Disfranchisement,” highlighted African American citizens’ contributions to Pennsylvania’s economic, political, and cultural life (Engledew). Purvis’s speeches and co-editing of the History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania cemented his status as a significant anti-slavery orator despite his unsuccessful efforts.
William Whipper
African-American businessman and abolitionist William Whipper was a crucial player in the Underground Railroad, giving fugitive slaves food and transportation. In a speech he wrote in The Colored American, he advocated for peaceful resistance against slavery (Aviles 3). In addition to becoming a prosperous businessman and a forerunner of the civil rights movement, Whipper authored numerous writings and contributed to abolitionist publications. For example, he was an active writer for the National Anti-slavery Standard, the North Star, and the Liberator (Aviles 8).
Some of his better-known political actions include working with Pennsylvania black businessmen Robert Purvis and James Forten in 1832 to draft a response to the state legislature’s effort to restrict the entry of free blacks into the state and to weaken the legal position of those assigned as fugitive slaves (Aviles 5). At the center of Whipper’s advocacy for moral reforms was the belief that abolition must be achieved through nonviolent means.
Prince Saunders
Prince Saunders was another prominent abolitionist who took a different approach to the fight against slavery. He spearheaded the Haitian Revolution, working with formerly enslaved revolutionaries and inviting some 13,000 free African Americans to leave America and settle in the first Black republic of Haiti (Alcenat 3). The promise of economic independence, equal citizenship rights, and borders inspired emancipated Africans to migrate to Haiti.
Additionally, the Saunders’ approach pioneered revolutionary transnationalism, expanding the window of opportunity for the eventual triumph of human rights-based anti-slavery movements (Alcenat 3). According to the revolutionary transnationalism perspective, citizenship was unconstrained by national boundaries, and Haitian citizenship evolved into a drastically subversive substitute for American citizenship. Based on revolutionary transnationalism, citizenship was unrestrained by national borders, with Haiti serving as a radically subversive alternative to American citizenship.
Sarah Mapps Douglass
Sarah Mapps Douglass, born into an African American family, was famous for her work educating African American children in Philadelphia and for her role as a leading figure in the national and local anti-slavery movements. She contributed to the fund-raising efforts for The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper in 1831 (Lindhorst 263). Douglass was one of the ladies who started the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 with her mother (Lindhorst 263). Her advocacy centered around this group for the remainder of her life.
Narratives of the Enslaved People
Slave narratives, which many white people often dismissed as anti-slavery propaganda, include first-hand recollections of individual hardships, joys, dreams, and victories during slavery. Among the most important slave narratives of the antebellum era were the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown. Brown, for instance, wrote a memoir titled “Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself,” which provided a first-hand account of his experience as an enslaved person (McNamara). Brown, a white man and an enslaved person’s son, describes his years in slavery, his harsh owners, and the terrible beatings he and those around him endured. A complete litany of the violent abuse that enslaved people suffered at the hands of ruthlessly cruel owners and overseers is detailed in Brown’s account.
William Wells Brown Background
Many people are familiar with abolitionists like Douglas and Garrison, but William Wells Brown also played a pivotal role during the 19th-century anti-slavery movements. William Brown was born in 1814 to a white man, George Hagen, and a biracial woman (McNamara). He was sold to his father’s first cousin, marking the beginning of his life as an enslaved person. Renting him to Captain William Walker, a steamship operator, exposed him to foresee and partake in the domestic slave trade(Albert et al.).
Brown was forced to help his master move enslaved people down the Mississippi River and was often assigned horrific tasks. It entailed making the enslaved cargo appear ready for the trials and tribulations of plantation life (Albert et al.). For instance, he was made to wash them and dye their hair a darker color to make their slaves appear younger. He witnessed the enslaved people forced to sing and dance to make it appear they were okay with their situation as property.
William’s determination to escape was reinforced when his sister and mother were sold into slavery. His escape journey would lead him to settle in Buffalo, a hotbed of abolitionism after New York state abolished slavery in 1827(Albert et al.). Here, he joined the Western New York anti-slavery society and began his career as an orator, including helping enslaved people escape to Canada. His scholarship works mainly focused on anti-slavery and examined issues like bi-racial relationships and the exploitation of black women by their white masters.
Narration as a Fugitive Slave
William Wells details how he was stolen, implying he was born a human being, but his future and life were stolen. His narrative indicates that some of the enslaved people were born out of the assault of enslaved women. Therefore, the horrors of family separation were a persistent threat, where couples were sold separately despite their bonds. Experiences during childhood, such as reporting to the field early in the morning, where those reporting late are whipped, depict the suffering Africans went through, age notwithstanding.
William, being a person of color, was tasked with serving on an enslaver’s steamship, giving food to other enslaved people (Albert et al.). Many of the enslaved people he served food would undergo extreme grooming to look younger, inducing dying gray hairs (Albert et al.). The story depicts the fear and trauma most of these enslaved people went through because of age, where age could easily make one redundant or worse off, being disposed of in the cruelest ways.
The autobiography highlighted the violence meted out towards enslaved people through the mutilations described. For example, the whipping, working to death, and violence towards women are reinforced throughout the narrative (McNamara). Escaping was also difficult because one risked arrest and possible imprisonment unless they fled to Canada, which was further North. Wells’ narration of his escape with his mother and subsequent arrest and detainment demonstrates that the freedom of blacks or people of color was extremely limited anywhere in the U.S. because enslavers had the authority to arrest and return them to previous owners. Even if one chose to escape, the dilemma and pain of leaving loved ones was emotionally painful.
Well’s account is a disconcerting narrative, unlike Douglass’, because the latter emphasized the power of individuality that each human possesses. In his narrative, William Wells lacks that passion and drive, yet he exposes the horror of the slave trade. With the experiences of enslaved people, it is possible to understand William’s determination to escape and his involvement in the Underground Railroad to help fugitive slaves escape.
Clint Smith’s narrative of Angola prison reflects modern-day slavery, which has some resemblance to 19th-century slavery. For example, Smith says that “two-thirds of prisoners in Louisiana today are black”, and one out of 25 people sentenced to death is innocent (106). His summary delves into the pivotal aspect of America’s history of slavery and how it continues to shape society today.
Assessment of the Slave Narratives
From a fugitive to a free man, Brown’s narrative depicts galloping as a typical way of life for most enslaved people. His experience was representative and informative to those who knew little of the reality of slavery. Clint Smith’s work, by extension, can be perceived as seeking to voice the emerging literary consciousness of black people in the 19th century. The narrative of Brown typifies the structure of the antebellum slave experience between 1789 and 1865 (Albert et al.). Although Brown’s story may be augmented in some ways, his distinctive manner of telling is insightful into the survival of Black people and the dominant morality of his time.
Slave narratives provide an account of slavery, the earliest African slave trade tales. Autobiographies were the most common form of Black writing post-freedom. Until the Great Depression, most Black and African American novels were slave narratives, compelling readers to consider race, social justice, and freedom (Government and Heritage Library). Black individuals in the South who were held in bondage wrote most of the antebellum-era narratives, which were typically written by enslaved people trying to free themselves (Government and Heritage Library).
Numerous antebellum storytellers portrayed slavery as a state of profound physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual deprivation. Formerly enslaved people wrote to educate white readers about the reality of slavery and persuade them that Black people deserved full human rights. As a result, their stories sparked conversations on slavery and freedom. Clint Smith adopts a similar standpoint in his book to educate readers about the reality of slavery and persuade them to embrace the past as a means to healing and reconciliation of the nation, still thriving in the shadows of slavery in disguise.
Conclusion
The fight for civil rights in colonial America began in Philadelphia, where abolitionists argued that slavery was immoral. The city became a leading center of abolition, with influential figures such as William Whipper, Robert Purvis, Sarah Mapps Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and William Wells Brown advocating for the end of slavery. Despite Congress’s prohibition on importing enslaved individuals, Southern individuals opposed abolition, prioritizing slavery for cotton cultivation.
Despite the abolition of slavery in 1780, many black Pennsylvanians remained in bondage, and abolitionists like William Wells Brown played a crucial role in emancipating Africans. Slave narratives, such as those of Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown, provide first-hand accounts of enslaved people’s experiences and struggles. Smith complements these accounts and the history of abolitionists by helping today’s generation view history in its entirety and emphasizing the identity of black people and slavery, and reigniting discussions on reconciliation.
Works Cited
Albert, James, et al. Slave Narratives. Literary Classics Of The United States, 2002.
Alcenat, Westenley. “Children of Africa, Shall Be Haytians“: Prince Saunders, Revolutionary Transnationalism, and the Foundations of Black Emigration. 2019, pp. 1–403.
Aviles, Lauryn. “The William Whipper Arguments and the Push for Color-Blind Abolitionism in the Antebellum North.” Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 3, Indiana University, 2021, pp. 1–15.
Bailey, Anne. “They Sold Human Beings Here.” The New York Times, 2020.
D’Onofrio, Michael. “Slavery and Philly: Since Arrival of First Enslaved Africans, Deep Scars Exists Here, across Commonwealth.” WHYY, WHYY, 2019.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Edited by Deborah E. McDowell, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Dunkley, D. A. “Black Radicalism in the Episcopal Church: Absalom Jones and Slave Resistance, 1746–1818.” Anglican and Episcopal History, vol. 91, no. 3, 2022, pp. 263–90.
Engledew, Devin. “Robert Purvis (1810-1898).” Blackpast, 2007.
Government and Heritage Library. “Slave Narratives | NCpedia.” Ncpedia Organization, 2022.
Library of Congress. “Reconstruction and Its Aftermath – the African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship | Exhibitions (Library of Congress).” Loc.gov, 2019.
Lindhorst, Marie. “Politics in a Box: Sarah Mapps Douglass and the Female Literary Association, 1831-1833.” Pennsylvania History, vol. 65, no. 3, Penn State University Press, 1998, pp. 263–78.
McNamara, Robert. “These 5 Slave Narratives Recorded Suffering and Changed Public Opinion.” ThoughtCo, 2019.
National Park Service. “William Lloyd Garrison (U.S. National Park Service).” NPS Government, 2021.
Pargas, D. A. “Chapter 25: Slavery in the US South.” The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, pp. 441–57.
Smith, Clint. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. Dialogue Books, 2021.
US History. “The President’s House in Philadelphia: Life under Slavery.” US History Org.