(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery and the Irish”

In November 1841 Charles Lenox Remond, while still on his European tour, gave a speech before the Hibernian Antislavery Society in Dublin. That oration, published in the Liberator, appears below. In rising to make some remarks on the great cause which has brought us together, … Read More(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery and the Irish”

(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery As It Concerns The British”

Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1878), was one of the earliest black abolitionist speakers. Born in Salem, Massachusetts to free black parents, John and Nancy Remond, Charles became an agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 and traveled with William Lloyd Garrison to the World Anti-Slavery … Read More(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery As It Concerns The British”

(1846) Lewis Richardson, “I am Free From American Slavery” 1846

By the 1840s a number of fugitive slaves, the most prominent being Frederick Douglass, took to the lecture circuit usually appearing before abolitionist societies where they told their personal stories of bondage. The speech of Lewis Richardson, however, attracted particular attention because he had escaped … Read More(1846) Lewis Richardson, “I am Free From American Slavery” 1846

(1858) Mary Ann Shadd, “Break Every Yoke and Let The Oppressed Go Free”

Mary Ann Shadd (1823-1893) was born into an affluent free black family in Wilmington, Delaware. Nonetheless after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Shadd joined thousands of other African Americans in emigrating to Canada. She briefly taught the children of the emigrants … Read More(1858) Mary Ann Shadd, “Break Every Yoke and Let The Oppressed Go Free”

(1860) Frederick Douglass, “The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-slavery?”

In a speech before the Scottish Anti-Slavery Society in Glasgow, Scotland on March 26, 1860, Frederick Douglass outlines his views on the American Constitution. I proceed to the discussion. And first a word about the question. Much will be gained at the outset if we … Read More(1860) Frederick Douglass, “The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-slavery?”

(1863) Alexander Crummell, “Emigration, an Aid to the Evangelization of Africa”

In a sermon to Barbadian emigrants, at Trinity Church, Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa on May 14, 1863, Alexander Crummell calls on persons of African ancestry around the world to be actively engaged in the religious, economic and social development of the African continent.  His sermon … Read More(1863) Alexander Crummell, “Emigration, an Aid to the Evangelization of Africa”

(1863) Alexander Crummell, “The Responsibility of the First Fathers of a Country for its Future Life and Character”

African American intellectual Alexander Crummell lived in Monrovia, Liberia for nineteen years between 1853 and 1872.  While there he taught at Liberia College.  In a speech delivered in Monrovia on December 1, 1863, Crummell discusses the role educated young Liberian men would play in the … Read More(1863) Alexander Crummell, “The Responsibility of the First Fathers of a Country for its Future Life and Character”

(1867) John Sella Martin, A Speech Before the Paris Antislavery Conference

John Sella Martin was born into slavery in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was carried to Georgia and escaped from there to the North in 1856. Martin lived successively in Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, where by that point he was a minister and led a church … Read More(1867) John Sella Martin, A Speech Before the Paris Antislavery Conference

(1902) Rev. Mojola Agbebi, “Inaugural Sermon”

Rev. Dr. Mojola Agbebi, born April 10, 1860 as David Brown Vincent in Western Nigeria, was a leading proponent of “Ethiopianism,” which advocated an African-centered Christianity.  In the 1880s, as an indication of his embrace of African culture he changed his name to Mojola Agbebi.   … Read More(1902) Rev. Mojola Agbebi, “Inaugural Sermon”

(1906) Isaka Seme, “The Regeneration of Africa”

Pixley Isaka Seme was one of the first western-educated Africans to challenge the European colonialism then sweeping across the continent. Born in Natal, South Africa, Eme was educated at Columbia and Oxford Universities in the United States and Great Britain where he also became an attorney.  … Read More(1906) Isaka Seme, “The Regeneration of Africa”