Introduction for Students

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson declared that “all men are created equal”, but in a country formed to give people freedom, many lived in slavery. Agricultural regions depended on slave labor to support their economy, while industrial regions did not use it at all. Some citizens of both the North and South realized that the institution of slavery was wrong and took action to eliminate it. The men and women who stood up against this evil were known as abolitionists.

The year is 1860 and you are a young adult living in Boston. You have heard and read arguments supporting and opposing slavery, and you have made the decision to join the abolitionist movement. How will you fight against slavery? Having spent your life in Boston, you have never seen slavery for yourself.

Educate yourself before you educate others by investigating the life of slaves and the many strategies that other abolitionists have used. What were the different ways that abolitionists convinced Americans that slavery was wrong?