AFRICAN AMERICAN 116 FINAL

FINAL

The 1755 Boston Poisoning Case

A case where enslaved people were accused of poisoning their enslaver.

Importance: Increased white fear of slave resistance and led to harsher control over enslaved people.

⅗ Compromise

Agreement that enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxes.

Importance: Gave Southern slave states more political power in Congress.

Slave Trade Compromise

Allowed the international slave trade to continue until 1808.

Importance: Protected the Southern economy and expanded slavery.

Fugitive Slave Clause

Required escaped enslaved people to be returned.

Importance: Strengthened slaveholders’ rights in the Constitution.

Northwest Ordinance

Law banning slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Importance: Set an early limit on the expansion of slavery.

Cotton Revolution / Cotton Gin (“King Cotton”)

The cotton gin made cotton production faster and more profitable.

Importance: Greatly increased the demand for enslaved labor in the South.

Stanley Elkins

Historian who created the “Sambo” stereotype theory.

Importance: Influenced discussions about slavery’s psychological effects on enslaved people.

J. Marion Sims

Doctor who experimented on enslaved women.

Importance: Advanced gynecology through unethical and painful experiments.

Gullah Culture

African American culture preserving African traditions.

Importance: Preserved African language, storytelling, and customs in the U.S.

Haitian Revolution Influence

Successful slave revolt in Haiti.

Importance: Inspired enslaved people while terrifying slaveholders in the Americas.

Internal Slave Trade Expansion

Growth of selling enslaved people within the U.S.

Importance: Forced migration separated many Black families.

Fancy Trade

Sale of enslaved people based on appearance or skills.

Importance: Shows the sexual exploitation and commodification of enslaved people.

Fancy Women

Light-skinned enslaved women targeted for sexual exploitation.

Importance: Reveals how race and gender shaped slavery.

Quadroon Balls

Events where mixed-race women were pursued by wealthy white men.

Importance: Reflected racial hierarchies and exploitation in society.

Freedom Papers

Documents proving a Black person was free.

Importance: Helped free Black people avoid kidnapping or enslavement.

Christopher McPherson

Free Black educator who ran a night school.

Importance: Expanded education opportunities for Black communities.

“Man Steelers”

Slave traders who kidnapped Black people.

Importance: Shows how illegal kidnapping supported slavery.

Thomas Cooper

Supporter of slavery and states’ rights.

Importance: Helped justify pro-slavery political ideas.

John C. Calhoun

Politician who defended slavery as a “positive good.”

Importance: Became one of slavery’s strongest political defenders.

Positive Good Theory

Idea that slavery benefited society and enslaved people.

Importance: Used to morally defend slavery in the South.

Mammy stereotype

Racist stereotype of loyal Black female caretakers.

Importance: Justified slavery by portraying enslaved women as happy servants.

Jezebel stereotype

Racist stereotype of Black women as hypersexual.

Importance: Used to excuse sexual violence against Black women.

Sarah Baartman

African woman displayed because of racist beliefs.

Importance: Became a symbol of exploitation and scientific racism.

American Colonization Society

Group promoting Black migration to Africa.

Importance: Reflected white fears about free Black communities in America.

Robert Finley

Founder of the Colonization Society.

Importance: Helped organize efforts to relocate free Black Americans to Liberia.

1831 Free People of Color Convention

Meeting of free Black leaders.

Importance: Encouraged Black political activism and abolition efforts.

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical abolitionist writer.

Importance: Helped grow the abolitionist movement nationwide.

The Liberator

Anti-slavery newspaper.

Importance: Spread abolitionist ideas to a large audience.

David Walker

Black abolitionist writer.

Importance: Encouraged enslaved people to resist oppression. Walker's Appeal shifted the focus from gradual emancipation to immediate abolition.

Frederick Douglass

Formerly enslaved abolitionist speaker and writer.

Importance: Became one of the most powerful voices against slavery. He was important for dismantling pro-slavery arguments through his powerful autobiography, advising President Lincoln during the Civil War,

David Ruggles

Abolitionist who aided escapees.

Importance: Helped many enslaved people reach freedom. Was secretary of the New York Committee of Vigilance, a radical biracial organization to aid fugitive slaves, oppose slavery, and inform enslaved workers in New York about their rights in the state

New York Vigilance Committee

Group protecting fugitives from slavery.

Importance: Fought against kidnapping and enforced fugitive slave laws.

Underground Railroad

Secret escape network for enslaved people.

Importance: Helped thousands escape slavery.

Ellen Craft and William Craft

Couple who escaped slavery through disguise.

Importance: Their escape challenged racial and gender assumptions.

Henry Box Brown

Escaped slavery by mailing himself in a box.

Importance: Became a famous symbol of resistance and freedom.

William Still

Underground Railroad leader.

Importance: Documented stories of escaped enslaved people.

Harriet Tubman

Conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Importance: Helped many enslaved people escape and became a symbol of courage.

Sojourner Truth

Activist for abolition and women’s rights.

Importance: Connected racial equality with women’s equality. Prominent Black abolitionist and women's rights activist best known for her powerful speeches, including “Ain't I a Woman?” which exposed how Black women were excluded from traditional notions of femininity and equality,

Maria W. Stewart

Black female abolitionist speaker.

Importance: One of the first Black women to publicly lecture on politics and rights.

Nat Turner Rebellion

Violent slave revolt in Virginia.

Importance: Increased Southern fears and led to stricter slave laws. he rebellion directly led to the strengthening of slavery's legal structure, accelerating the national divide toward the Civil War

Harriet Jacobs

Formerly enslaved author.

Importance: Revealed the sexual abuse enslaved women faced. Was the first woman to author a fugitive slave narrative in the United States.

Missouri Compromise

Agreement balancing free and slave states.

Importance: Temporarily reduced sectional conflict over slavery.

Texas & Mexico Conflict

Conflict over Texas independence and slavery.

Importance: Led to U.S. expansion and tensions over slavery.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that the U.S. should expand westward.

Importance: Justified expansion and spread debates about slavery.

Mexican-American War

War between the U.S. and Mexico.

Importance: Added large territories and intensified slavery debates.

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws over slavery expansion.

Importance: Temporarily eased tensions between North and South.

Fugitive Slave Act

Law requiring return of escaped enslaved people.

Importance: Increased Northern anger toward slavery.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Anti-slavery novel.

Importance: Influenced public opinion against slavery.

Kansas–Nebraska Act

Allowed territories to vote on slavery.

Importance: Reopened conflict over slavery expansion.

Bleeding Kansas

Violence between pro- and anti-slavery groups.

Importance: Showed how deeply divided the country had become.

John Brown

Radical abolitionist.

Importance: His violent actions increased tensions before the Civil War.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Supreme Court ruling denying Black citizenship.

Importance: Strengthened slavery and angered abolitionists.

Supreme Court Decision (1857)

Court ruled Congress could not ban slavery in territories.

Importance: Increased sectional conflict leading to war.

Harpers Ferry Raid

John Brown’s raid to spark a slave revolt.

Importance: Deepened fear and division between North and South.

1860 United States presidential election

Election of Abraham Lincoln.

Importance: Triggered Southern secession and the Civil War.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln’s order freeing enslaved people in Confederate states.
Importance: Changed the Civil War into a fight against slavery.

54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

Black Union Army regiment.

Importance: Proved Black soldiers’ bravery and support for the Union.

Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Ended slavery in the U.S.
Importance: Officially abolished slavery nationwide.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Granted citizenship and equal protection.
Importance: Expanded civil rights protections.

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Gave Black men voting rights.

Importance: Expanded political participation after slavery.