What stereotypes do these documents promote about African-Americans? How do these men justify slavery? Or what points do they make about the need to abolish slavery? Should the emancipated slaves remain “on-soil,” that is, in the United States? How do these men envision civilized society and slavery’s place in it? What remarks do the abolitionists make about the conditions under which the slaves worked and lived? The pro-slavery writers?

Take a Stand on Slavery

Read the following pro- and anti-slavery documents

Pro-Slavery:
-George Fitzhugh Advocates Slavery: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3141t.html

-Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106t.html

-James Henry Hammond Advocates Slavery: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439t.html

-Excerpts from Edmund Ruffin’s “The Political Economy of Slavery”: http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/filmmore/ps_ruffin.html

Abolitionists:
-David Walker’s Appeal: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2931t.html

-Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/

-The American Antislavery Society: Declarations of Sentiments: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/abeswlgct.html

Directions

Part 1: Essay
Focus Questions:
1. What stereotypes do these documents promote about African-Americans?
2. How do these men justify slavery? Or what points do they make about the need to abolish slavery? Should the emancipated slaves remain “on-soil,” that is, in the United States?
3. How do these men envision civilized society and slavery’s place in it? What remarks do the abolitionists make about the conditions under which the slaves worked and lived? The pro-slavery writers?
4. What are your impressions about the attitudes these men had about slavery, whether they were slavery proponents or abolitionists?
5. In what ways are the arguments of these men reflective of racial prejudice?