Antebellum Social Reform

The period before the Civil War. During this time, many Americans wanted to change society and end slavery.

Antebellum

Movements that tried to improve society by fixing problems such as slavery, education, and women's rights.

Social Reform

A movement to end slavery and give enslaved people their freedom.

Abolitionism

Laws that allowed enslavers to legally free enslaved people.

• Freedom

Manumission Laws

A plan to slowly end slavery over a period of time instead of ending it all at once.

• Also means freedom

• Phased in over time

Gradual Emancipation

An organization that encouraged free Black Americans to move to Africa, believing they should establish communities there.

• A creative idea

• Raise money, use money to buy slaves, free them

American Colonization Society

A country in West Africa where many free Black Americans and formerly enslaved people settled.

• Purchase Africa where slaves will go

• Name comes from freedom

Liberia

A formerly enslaved man who became a famous speaker and writer. He fought against slavery by sharing his experiences and speaking for freedom.

• Escaped slavery- job was unloading on docks, he steals sailors gear and jumps on ship

• Father was the “master”

• Went back to Maryland and got the confession from the master saying he was his biological father

• Known for being blunt

Frederick Douglass

A formerly enslaved woman who became an abolitionist and fought for equal rights for women and African Americans.

• Raped many times

• Spoke to groups about her experiences

• Getting mad for others NOT taking this seriously

Sojourner Truth

Personal stories written by formerly enslaved people describing their experiences, struggles, and treatment under slavery.

• 1st hand narratives about slavery- detailed

• Ppl buy them for entertainment but gives them trauma after reading them

• Helped American understand “slavery”

Slave Narratives

She wrote a book showing the cruelty of slavery. It helped more Americans understand why slavery needed to end.

• She was very religious and moral

• Huge reader of slavery and got into her head

• Writes a book that is Anti-Slavery

• “So this is the little old lady who started this big war”

Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)

Uprisings where enslaved people resisted slavery and fought against their lack of freedom.

Slave Revolts

An uprising led by Nat Turner in Virginia. Enslaved people rebelled against enslavers, and the event caused Southern states to pass stricter laws controlling enslaved and free Black people.

Nat Turner Rebellion (1831)