Frederick Douglass

• 
  
  
  Personal Background:
  
  
  ·       I was born in February of 1818 on the Holme Hill Farm in Talbot County, Maryland.
  
  
  ·       My father was an unknown white man, but my mother, Harriet Bailey, worked under the bitter conditions of slavery in nearby plantation fields and would sometimes venture out at night to see me as a child.
  
  
  ·       When I was only a few weeks old, I was separated from my mother and raised by my grandparents.
  
  
  ·       At about the age of six, my grandmother took me to the plantation of my master and left me there, only never being able to recover from betrayal and abandonment.
  
  
  ·       When I was about eight, I was sent to Baltimore to live as a houseboy with Hugh and Sophia Auld, relatives of my master.
  
  
  ·       Even though I did not have a formal education, my master taught me the alphabet.
  
  
  ·       I made the neighborhood boys my teachers, by giving away my food in exchange for lessons in reading and writing.
  
  
  ·       After an aborted escape attempt when I was about eighteen, I was sent back to Baltimore to live with the Auld family, and in early September, 1838, at the age of twenty, I succeeded in escaping from slavery by impersonating a sailor.
  
  
  ·       I was the first slave to stand publicly and declare my fugitive status, became a prolific lecturer, and published many newspapers during my lifetime, which were devoted to causes in the name of "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for all.
  
  
  ·       I was internationally recognized as an uncompromising abolitionist, indefatigable worker for justice and equal opportunity, and an unyielding defender of women's rights.
  
  
  Issues:
  
  
  ·       Abolition of slavery
  
  
  o   Stance: Found support for the abolition of slavery in my audience with persuasive techniques.
  
  
  ·       Justice and equality for all
  
  
  o   Stance: I am an indefatigable and devote worker moving towards equality and justice for all.
  
  
  ·       Women’s rights
  
  
  o    Stance: Unyielding defender.
  
  
  ·       William Lloyd Garrison gave me the inspiration to challenge the government and country to reform. Because Garrison and I share common interests in reform, he served as a mentor in my life.
  
  
  Solutions:
  
  
  ·       In 1841, at an abolitionist meeting in Massachusetts I delivered a moving speech about my experiences as a slave and was immediately hired as a lecturer by the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society.
  
  
  ·       My life as a reformer ranged from abolitionist activities in the early 1840s to my attacks on Jim Crow and lynching in the 1890s. For sixteen years I edited an influential black newspaper and achieved international fame as an orator and writer of great persuasive power.
  
  
  ·       The color of my skin created a minor obstacle because it took a great amount of persuasion for an African-American to gain American’s support for the abolition of slavery, justice and equality for all, and women’s rights.
  
  
  ·       In thousands of speeches and editorials I levied an irresistible indictment against slavery and racism, provided an indomitable voice of hope for my people, embraced antislavery politics, and preached my own brand of American ideals. In the 1850s I broke with the strictly moralist brand of abolitionism led by William Lloyd Garrison and supported the early women's rights movement.
  
  
  Relationship to others:
  
  
  ·       Abolition- I, Frederick Douglass, feel Americans should focus on the immediate abolition of slavery. Due to childhood experiences, my fellow African-Americans do not deserve to endure slave cruelty.
  
  
  ·        Women’s Rights- Although I fought for equality and liberty for all, women’s rights were a high priority
  
  
  ·        Lydia Marie Child and William Lloyd Garrison would be among my top supporters in abolishing slavery in the United States.
  
  
  ·       I am in direct opposition to Lyman Beecher and his gradual process in the abolishment of slavery in the United States. This is an institution that must be removed in order to achieve an ideal society for all.
  
  
  ~Muñoz

David Walker

Personal Background:

• I was born on September 27, 1785.
• I died on June 28, 1830.
• I was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.
• My father was a slave, but my mother was a free African American.
• I had been found dead at my home, some people say that I had been poisoned others say the cause of my death was tuberculosis.
• I had not attended school, therefore had no education.
• At an early age I taught myself how to read and write.
  
• I am African American.
• I am an Abolitionist.
• In 1826 I had settled in Boston Massachusetts and there I became a writer for the first African American newspaper, the Freedom's Journal.
• In the 1820's I had set up a used clothing store in Boston.
• I had written and published the pamphlet Walker's Appeal, or also known as The Appeal on September 1829.

Issues:

• I had grown up to despise and have much hatred for the system of slavery that the American government allowed in America.
• I had been very concerned about many social issues concerning and affecting free and enslaved Africans in America.
  
• I expressed many beliefs such as: unified struggle for resistance of oppression (slavery), land reparations, self-government for people of African descent in America, racial pride, and a critique of American capitalism.

Solutions:

• I had written The Appeal to the enslaved men and women of the South advocate a black rebellion and crush slavery. I had also written the pamphlet to remind African Americans that they are all American and they should be treated fairly too. My articles called for vengeance against white men, but I also had expressed the hope that their cruel behavior toward blacks would change, and if so then having vengeance would be unnecessary. The message I was sending to the slaves was that: if liberty is not given you, rise in bloody rebellion.
• My Appeal had horrified whites and slaveholders both in the North and South. In result, laws were initiated that forbade African Americans to learn how to read and had banned the distribution of antislavery literature. Louisiana executed a bill ordering expulsion of all freed slaves who had settled in the state after 1825. In addition, I was worth $3,000 if found dead and $10,000 if found alive and brought to the South.

Relationship to Others:

• Nat Turner led his bloody rebellion in 1831 as a result of Walker's Appeal and had forevermore frightened the men of the South.
  
• Most abolitionists had disagreed with my advice to the slaves because I was insisting on resorting to violence in order to obtain freedom.
  
• William Lloyd Garrison, a white abolitionist, believed in having an immediate emancipation of slavery but thought it could be accomplished through persuasion and argument, did favor the spirit of the Appeal, however, and ran large portions of it, together with his own review, in his paper, the Liberator.

-Nuñez

Ann Lee

"Put your hands to work, and give your hearts to God."
-Ann Lee

Personal Background:• I was born on February 29, 1736 in Manchester, England
• I died on September 8, 1784
• I had no schooling therefore I was illiterate
• My father was an English Blacksmith
• I had five brothers and two sisters
• I married Abraham Standerin and was pregnant eight times however none of my children lived to be older than 6.
• I was the founder of the Shakers
Issues:• I was a strict believer that celibacy and confession of sin are the only true road to salvation
• I taught that trembling represented sins leaving the holy body by the Holy Spirit
• I came to the conclusion that I was Christ’s female counterpart and I was the second coming of Christ
• I believed that men and women should be treated equally and that we should be kept apart in order to prevent any temptation amongst the genders
• During religious worship we danced, shook and talked in tongues
Solutions:• I founded a utopian community that unified men and women
• The Shakers gave everyone a specific job and we all lived a communal life
• We moved to America in 1774 and settled in Albany because God told me, in the form of a tree, that there was a place made for us in America
• My ideas were considered to hostile to some people and I was molested on several occasions as well as abducted.
• I continued to seek for more coverts and was also put into prison

Relationships to others:• I worked with John Hocknell who helped me establish a settlement in Niskeyuna located near Albany


Gumkowski