Declarations of Independence
Declarations of Independence
African American Abolitionists and the Struggle for Racial and Rhetorical Self-Determination
This chapter examines the rhetoric and critiques of slavery by black abolitionists who were constrained by white abolitionists who held white supremacist beliefs that blacks lacked the intellectual capacity to marshal persuasive rational arguments. By the late 1830s, many African American abolitionists began publicly expressing a desire for independence from white antislavery leaders with whom they had previously collaborated. In powerful statements declaring their desire for self-determination, they argued that their white colleagues' attempts to control and restrict their rhetoric and activism were offensive and oppressive. In doing so, they critiqued white abolitionist leaders' racism, affirmed African Americans' right to create arguments on their own terms, and uncovered the history of black rhetorical activism that gave them empowering precedent for their efforts. These declarations challenged the established power relationships within the abolition movement, enabled new voices to emerge, and brought unique arguments into public debate.
Keywords: slavery, black abolitionists, white abolitionists, white supremacist beliefs, black activism, racism, abolition movement
NYU Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
