Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery

Axinn Center at Starr Library,Middlebury VT 05753

06 October, 2022

Description

Rokeby Museum and Middlebury College’s American Studies Program invite you to a lecture by distinguished professor Ford Risley as part of the Museum’s 2022 exhibit, Dissent! Abolition & Advocacy in Print. Prof. Risley will explore how abolitionist newspapers played an essential role in opposing slavery in the decades before the Civil War. Some 40 newspapers were founded with the goal of promoting the emancipation of more than three million slaves in the United States. At a time when most mainstream publications either supported slavery or ignored the subject, abolitionist newspapers were an unmistakable voice of outrage. They provided an editorial platform for the movement’s leaders, publicized the work of antislavery societies, and spread the news about the treatment of Blacks. The abolitionist press helped keep the issue of slavery before the public through the war when the institution was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment. This event is FREE. Supported in part by Vermont Humanities, Rokeby Museum, and Middlebury College's American Stuides Program