Black Abolitionists
By (Author) Benjamin Quarles
Hachette Books
Da Capo Press Inc
22nd March 1991
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Slavery and abolition of slavery
Social and cultural history
Human rights, civil rights
326.80973
Paperback
320
Width 140mm, Height 203mm
While much is known about the white men and women who were involved in the anti-slavery movement, the black abolitionists have been largely ignored. This book, written by one of Americas leading black historians, sets the record straight. As Benjamin Quarles shows, blacks were anything but passive in the abolitionist movement. Many of the pioneers of abolition were black; dozens of black preachers and writers actively promoted the cause; black organizations were founded to support their brothers; black ambassadors for freedom crossed the Atlantic; blacks were instrumental in the operation of the Underground Railroad. Quarles puts it eloquently: To the extent that America had a revolutionary tradition [the black American] was its protagonist no less than its symbol.
Benjamin Quarles (1904-1996) was a noted author, editor, and historian and the first African American to be published in what later became the Journal of American History. Africana hails him as a key figure in the emergence of African-American history as an academic discipline.