ipl-logo

Summary Of The Radical Abolitionist And Populist Movement

1318 Words6 Pages

The Radical Abolitionist and Populist Movements: The Superficiality of Interracial Coalitions Despite the decades separating the Radical Abolitionist and Populist movements, these political crusades share vital characteristics and shortcomings, the most significant being the superficial nature of their supposed “interracial” coalitions, at least on the part of white members, which ultimately led to each movement’s defeat. This superficial interraciality is most evident in the movements’ basic goals and histories as illustrated by John Stauffer in The Black Hearts of Men, Lawrence Goodwyn in “Populist Dreams and Negro Rights,” and Charles Postel in The Populist Vision. The striking similarities between the superficial interracial coalition …show more content…

John’s visit caused him to sympathize with the boys of Monkeyville, which turned him into a liar, thief, and murderer.6 This story is a clear allegory for Smith’s own racial alliance with black Americans, with Smith being John, and the boys of ‘Monkeyville,’ being a thinly veiled allusion to the black community, through the racist epithet ‘monkeys’. This story suggests that Smith had long held racist sentiments and doubted his involvement in the interracial coalition, but maintained a superficial interraciality in order to achieve his religious goals and due to his role as the most prominent member of the Radical Abolitionist …show more content…

Even the source of Smith’s change of heart suggests that his involvement in the interracial coalition was a veil hiding ulterior white motives. Smith was not upset because he realized the an interracial utopia was no longer achievable, he was disheartened because all his work with the Radical Abolitionists to bring about the millennium through the abolition of the original sin, slavery, was inconsequential.8 It was his religious beliefs, primarily the abandonment of millennialism, sacred sovereignty, and bible politics, that altered his racial politics, and rendered interraciality, as a means to a religious end, unnecessary, because he no longer believed in the possibility of that religious end, in this case, the generation of the Christian millennium and a heavenly

Show More
Related
129 Words | 1 Pages

The Antebellum Reform Movement includes: the Second Great Awakening, Abolitionism, Temperance, and Women’s Rights. The Great Awakening is one of the most notable events in the history of American religion. This event was a religious revival, that not only affected religion, but it also influenced the prison reform, the women’s rights movement, abolishment of slavery, and advancements in literature. The Abolitionist movement, was formed by groups and individuals with the purpose to end slavery.

Read More
220 Words | 1 Pages

In Gary Gerstle’s historical monograph called American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century, he attempts to prove that the rooseveltian nation is a contradiction of civic and racial nations. A civic nation seeks to include anyone who shares the same value to the “promise of economic opportunity and political freedom to all citizens, irrespective of their racial, religious, or cultural background” (7). While civic nationalism seeks to include, racial nationalism seeks to exclude those who are not “held together by common blood and skin color and inherited fitness for self-government” (4). The nation of Theodore Roosevelt, rooseveltian, believes in “political and social equality for all irrespective of race, ethnicity, or nationality

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

Social Movements in American Politics, Slavery and Abolitionism, and Civil Rights and the Civil war Amendments. The major questions are as follows. Where does the energy that drives social movement come from? Does affirmative action to assist minorities and women inevitably mean reserve discrimination against white men? What were the similarities and differences between the movements for racial and gender equality.

Read More
1502 Words | 7 Pages

Every group of people needs a good leader, and that good leader to fight for the freedom of slaves was Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was the most influential African American abolitionist who pushed forward the movement to abolish slavery and fighting for women's rights. Overall, Douglass is a man who believes in equality and the everyone should be free. Douglass was able to speak out on these problems and his views by creating his own movement from telling his life story in the book “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, working and communicating with other abolitionists, describing the ideology of freedom in america, and travelling to other countries to gain support and have a larger audience. In his own narrative, Frederick

Read More
93 Words | 1 Pages

Building on the work of other Reconstructionist authors, Stephen Kantrowitz sets his work in a larger historiography of Reconstruction. Drawing upon letters, newspapers, pamphlets, diaries, accounts and reports of both white and black activists in Boston, Kantrowitz sets the scene for the struggle of “colored citizens” and their wide-ranging campaign of equal citizenship. Bringing a bold new perspective to one of our nation’s defining epochs, More than Freedom helps to provide a conceptual framework for examining the extent and limits of the so-called freedom achieved in 1865 and the legacy that endures today.

Read More
689 Words | 3 Pages

Working from the shadows during the sixties, conservatives created a strong base that emerged to be the majority within the United States government at the dismay of the liberals. The first three essays discuss the politics of race in regards to the conservative movement. At the beginning of the sixties, conservatives were on opposite sides of the issue of race, while Southern segregationists continued to promote the racist ideology which slowed the civil rights movement outside of the Southern region. With racial violence in the sixties, grassroots groups such as the Citizen’s Council of Mississippi, a white segregationist group aided the move from the regional segregation to the “color-blind” ideology of conservatism (21-82).

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Abolitionist had varied perspectives on emancipation and what was considered the right solution to the “peculiar institution”. Different groups like the American Anti-Slavery Society and the American Colonization Society were both fighting to abolish slavery; however, they acted in contradicting ways. One group wanted to include and invite free slaves into American society and the other wanted to free and send slaves back to Africa. The diverse opinions made it difficult for progress to occur. In fact, the one and only thing most people could agree on was the notion that slavery was immoral and inhumane.

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

Wright’s memoir, Black Boy, is a phenomenal commentary on the negative aspects of the Jim Crow South and the Black Community at that. He especially criticizes religion, and how it can be used to threaten and contain its followers. Even today this can be the case, and id does not end at religious practices: education and other social norms can be wielded as means to control its

Read More
1073 Words | 5 Pages

The Antebellum Era was a monumental step in the right direction for American society. This is due to the reform movements that arose at the time, which include education reform, women’s rights, abolition, temperance, religious reformation, and more. There were always two opposing sides to each issue depending on where and what the person did at the time. For example, women started first wave feminism for obvious reasons and men opposed it due to traditional values. This opposition to reform can be found in every movement even outside of the antebellum period.

Read More
1297 Words | 6 Pages

”(Section 8) The conversation between the young man and the preacher serves as a powerful illustration of the impact of racism on James' growth and development. Through this conversation, James learns important lessons about the complexity of racism and the importance of resilience and faith in the face of adversity. James begins to make his own decisions and attitudes towards racism and looks at himself as more of an individual. Although readers don’t get the chance to hear his exact thoughts, it is clear that the conversation sparked something inside of him.

Read More
1463 Words | 6 Pages

Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, declared dark skin as a sign of God’s curse in 1863. He considered African-Americans descendants of the first murderer, Cain, and pronounced “death on the spot” for “mix[ing] the seed of Cain” with Mormon “chosen seed” (Stack; Harvey). Church materials portrayed Jesus as white despite his obviously Middle-Eastern heritage, apparent through detailed genealogy, to justify prejudice against black and Native American people (Matt. 1; Bowman). This divinely excused racism perpetuated through the Civil Rights Movement, but the stretching boundaries of Mormonism stretched church leaders to conveniently have a revelation refuting Young’s. In 1978, they excused the statement as from the “white supremacist culture from which Mormonism developed” (Harvey).

Read More
308 Words | 2 Pages

Earlier antislavery movements proposed for a slow emancipation of slaves. However, the abolitionist movement called for immediate emancipation of all slaves. This made the movement more radical, and ultimately arose hostility between the Northern and Southern States (History.com, 2009). Previous antislavery advocates thought that a gradual emancipation was best in order to remain peace between the states.

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

Over the history of the United States, there have been many attempts of terrorism on our soil, many through domestic roots. One such political quarrel that marked the radicalization of the American public far enough to bring about terrorism were on the terms of certain legislations, the concept of abolitionism and anti-abolitionism. Legislations like the Missouri Compromise, and Fugitive Slave act were very controversial to the general public, both in the North and South. At this time, many abolitionists chose to perform pacifist demonstrations rather than violent conflict to achieve their dream. Generation of sentiment against slavery culmunated in John Brown was a calculated terrorist as he used extreme forms of violence against the populus

Read More
243 Words | 1 Pages

The author, David Smith, discusses the topic of racial issues from the 19th century. During this time period, even abolitionists treated black people as lesser people than themselves. Smith describes how this book displays the discrimination of black people, and how even when slaves gain freedom, society does not allow them to feel entirely “free.” He also defines the term race as a term one uses to undermine a different group of people. In the 1800s, many saw black people as inadequate and simpleminded, Twain introduces Jim as a sympathetic and caring man.

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

American slaves were treated horribly. It was called the “Peculiar Institution” because it was a strange system. After a while, the South started to rely on slavery since it was agricultural. The North relied on the cotton from the South to ship to other countries. Once the cotton gin came to the South, they needed more slaves because they were producing more cotton.

Read More

More about Summary Of The Radical Abolitionist And Populist Movement

Related Topics

Open Document