Create an abolitionist pamphlet that reflects the perspectives of a certain kind of activist

Pamphlet Project

 

Objective: Create an abolitionist pamphlet that reflects the perspectives of a certain kind of activist. The abolitionist movement contained MANY different kinds of ideals and beliefs regarding the best way to end enslavement. Such personalities included:

 

· Radical African Americans (generally, working-class or formerly enslaved people) who demanded freedom by any means necessary

 

· i.e. Frederick Douglass, David Walker, Harriet Tubman

 

· Class-conscious African Americans (generally, middle class and elite black reformers) who believed freedom should reflect certain respectability principles

 

· i.e. Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

 

· Black Feminists (generally, middle class and elite black women) who argued for racial AND gender equity

 

· i.e. Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary Shad, Sojourner Truth

 

· Black colonizationists (generally, black intellectuals who wanted immediate abolition but also believed the US was incapable of overcoming institutional racism)

 

· i.e., John Brown Russwurm

 

· Radical White Northerners (generally, middle and elite-class white reformers who had been greatly influenced by the Second Great Awakening or had inherent humanitarian instincts)

 

· William Lloyd Garrison

 

· John Brown

 

· Radical White Southerners (generally, elite former slaveholders who were influenced by the Second Great Awakening and humanitarian instincts)

 

· James Birney

 

· Sarah Grimké

 

· Angelina Grimké

 

Research

 

This project will require not only detailed attention to class lectures, readings, films and media; you must also understand the kind of personality around whom you want your audience to be! Maria Stewart and Sojourner Truth DID NOT appeal to the same kinds of abolitionists. Therefore, you need to look at 1-3 outside sources that will provide you with a firm understanding of the kind of audience you want to read your pamphlet. You will cite these sources in a bibliography that will be attached to your work. Further, you have probably never looked at antebellum pamphlets before this assignment. Therefore, you need to examine look at how 19th-century writers, journalists, and media outlets used text, font, images and the like, so that you have an idea of how those people got audience attention and kept them engrossed. You will look at 1-3 sources for pamphlet research that you will also include in your bibliography.

 

Project Guidelines

 

1.) Antebellum pamphlets ranged in size from 3-50 pages. These works were generally comprised of several essays by one or multiple authors, complete with illustrations and attention-grabbing graphics. YOUR pamphlet will consist of 6-10 PowerPoint slides that will contain your argument as to why abolition is righteous and how Americans should achieve abolition. Your writing needs to be the heart of your pamphlet, so you may dedicate no more than 3 single slides exclusively to images. You MAY intersperse images with your writing but you MUST be mindful that you are not dependent upon images to relay your message!

 

2.) I DO NOT care what style of PowerPoint you use. Your image research will help you to understand how 19th century media specialists grabbed readers’ attention through font, text, style and image, but that does not mean that you are hamstrung into using only sepia or black and white tones. These PowerPoint MUST use era-appropriate images and language (i.e. no 21st-century slang), but your color schemes, fonts, etc. can be anything offered to you through your software. I WANT THESE TO BE ARRESTING. YOU ARE TRYING TO TURN ME INTO YOUR KIND OF ABOLITIONIST.

 

3.) Your pamphlet MUST have a title (you research will help you figure out how 19th century writers created titles) that reflects your argument and what kind of abolitionist you are. For example, Sojourner Truth and Mary Shad were NOT the same kinds of women–the titles of their abolitionist and feminist works are VERY different.

 

4.) Your final slide will be a BIBLIOGRAPHY that cites your sources that you examined for personality and physical pamphlet research. You MAY use exclusively online sources, as hundreds of good, historical websites work to provide digital archives to academics. Some examples of good sites are:

 

· New York Historical Society Digital Collections

 

· www. nyhistory.org/library/ digital-collections

 

· Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame

 

· http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/reformers/maria-miller-stewart/

 

The best sites will contain bibliographical information that will legitimize your research. Do not use reference sources such as Wikipedia as they will not help you with your project and can sometimes provide inaccurate or useless information.

 

5.) You will upload your PowerPoint to Blackboard by 11:59 PM.

 

NOTES

 

It’s a great idea to ask questions of me or any specialist to assist you in creating this project. You have a lot of room to play here, in terms of the kind of personality you take on, as well as the look and feel of your pamphlet. This is an opportunity not only for you to showcase what you are gleaning about abolitionist and mid-19th century politics, but for you to actively engage history in a way that firmly connects you to a movement that still resonates in the 21st century! Have fun with it!!