White Women and the Abolitionist Movement

Paper Summary:

The paper begins with a description of the abolitionist movement. The role of white women in the movement is then discussed, including motivations for involvement, such as empathy with others considered second-class citizens, and personal relationships with slaves.

From the Paper:

"During the 1800's when the anti-slave movement began the main champions for the ending of slavery other than slaves themselves were white women. White women sympathized and even helped slaves; one notable example was the Underground Railroad, where some white women risked their homes and possibly even their lives to help slaves escape to the North. Some white women stood side by side in full public view with slaves proudly demonstrating their support for the anti slavery movement. On the surface it would seem that white women and slaves would have very little if anything at all in common. However, such an assumption would be far from the truth. The abolitionist movement was about human suffering and human rights, the quest for justice, liberty, equality and freedom resounded within the hearts and minds of women who silently longed to be free themselves. While it was whites that enslaved Blacks, it was primarily white men who involved themselves in the business of buying and selling slaves, it was white men who owned the property and the land that the slaves toiled on day and night. At the same time, white women had few if any rights. White women felt as if the same shackles that bound the slaves bound them as well. The words orated by slaves who spoke of the yearning to be free also struck a cord among women. Women begin to take issue with slavery and later as history revealed women began to fight for freedom for themselves. It was the above-mentioned reasons that women were so attracted to the anti slavery movement, and pursued the cause with a vengeance."

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