Primary Resources

Women and Abolition in Massachusetts


Membership Certificate
Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society Courtesy of the Lynn Museum

Record of the Female Anti-Slavery Society
Records of the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society Courtesey of the Lynn Museum. These transcriptions of records from the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society include records of the organization's first and second annual meetings and the text of its Constitution. These documents show that the women were self-conscious of their activities in the public sphere and justified their actions by reference to the moral and religious nature of abolition.

Constitution of the Anti-Slavery Society of Lynn and Vicinity
Records of the Anti-Slavery Society of Greater Lynn Courtesy of the Lynn Museum. This document includes transcriptions from the Anti-Slavery Society of Greater Lynn. The Anti-Slavery Society of Greater Lynn was a male organization with members from Lynn, Danvers, Beverly, and Marblehead. The tone of their Constitution and meetings is decidedly more political than that of the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society. These documents also give the reader a sense of the sentiments of the area's general population about slavery, abolition, and female abolitionists. Teachers may want to make special note of the resolution passed on April 25th, 1832 which includes the Anti-Slavery Society's reaction to the Nat Turner Rebellion in South Hampton, VA.

The following images are courtesy of the Salem State Archives

Charlotte Forten Valedictory Poem
The Farewell Exercises of the State Normal School in Salem, later Salem State College, provided an opportunity for many of the graduates to reflect on their time at the school. When giving the Valedictory Poem on July 28th, 1856, Charlotte Forten used the public forum to talk about slavery. Forten, the first African-American graduate from the State Normal School, came from the prominent Philadelphia Forten family. While in Salem, Charlotte Forten was an active member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society and frequently socialized with prominent abolitionists including William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Philips.

Songs by Miss Mary E. Page of Lowell, July 21

Song by Miss Ella Gertrude Page of Gloucester, July 23, 1863

Links

American Memory: Library of Congress
The Library of Congress' American Memory website has a collection entitled "America Singing: Nineteenth Century Song Sheets."

Abolitionist songs can be found at the following links:

Traitorism by Mrs. B Capron

Songs from the 29th Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York

Songs from the 31st Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York

The Library of Congress' American Memory website
The Library of Congress' American Memory website allows users to search through multiple databases for texts, images, recordings, and videos that document the American experience. This website will provide a wealth of information on man subjects. Its collection on Women's History and African-American History will be particularly helpful for materials on abolition. The American Memory website also has an extensive "Teacher Resource" section.

The Long Road to Justice curriculum is geared towards middle - and high-school students.
The heart of the curriculum materials is the "Teachers' Guide," written by Roberta Logan and developed by Primary Source of Watertown, MA. Teacher’s Guide table of contents includes: "From Slavery to Freedom" by Robert Hall; "The Sarah Roberts Case in Historical Perspective" by George Dargo; a bibliography of teacher resources, student reading list, archives, and websites. The Teachers' Sourcebook is available at no cost to middle- and high-school teachers and administrators. Any interested educator should contact lrtj@masshist.org to request a copy.

SALEM In History
SALEM In History's Website contains wonderful images from the Peabody Essex Museum's collections. The site includes photos of Prominent Salem abolitionists as well as paintings and propaganda about the cause.

Harper’s Weekly has an online collection of American political prints with analysis and explanation. The collection can be searched at www.harpweek.com The following cartoons and broadsides are useful for a discussion of abolition.

"Southern Ideas of Liberty"

"Slave Market of America"

"Abolition Frowned Down"

"Liberty, the Fair Maid of Kansas in the Hands of Border Ruffians"



Born in Salem, John Rogers (1829-1904)was a popular plaster sculptor in the mid-19th century. Rogers is credited with developing a distinctly American style of sculpture because he depicted scenes from everyday life, literature, and the Civil War. Rogers' sculptures appealed to the general public - they were mass produced and sold for under $20 each. It is estimated that he sold 80,000 sculptures between 1863 and 1893.

The first of the two sculptures included among our resources is "Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations." Cast in 1865, this sculpture depicts a family taking the loyalty oath to the Union after their state came under control of the Union Army. This act was a necessity before former Confederates could take part in the political process or even, as is depicted here, receive rations of food. In creating this sculpture, Rogers was taking a conciliatory position in relation to the defeated South.

Cast in 1869, "The Fugitive's Story" imagines an instance of a fugitive slave relating her story to prominent abolitionists. From left to right, those figured are: fugitive slave and baby, John C. Whittier, Henry Ward Beecher, and William Lloyd Garrison.



Civil War @ Smithsonian
The collections of the Smithsonian Institution are available online. The Smithsonian has a wide array of annotated material culture such as artifacts, portraits, and documents relating to slavery and abolition.

Thank you to Dr. Gayle Fischer, Associate Professor of History at Salem State College, for the following useful websites.
Primary Sources/Primary Sources Included: Websites Freedom's Journal
The first African-American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. The Journal was published weekly in New York City from 1827 to 1829. Freedom's Journal provided international, national, and regional information on current events and contained editorials declaiming slavery, lynching, and other injustices. All 103 issues of the Freedom's Journal have been digitized and placed into Adobe Acrobat format.
PLEASE NOTE: Each file is over 1 megabyte in size, refer to the file size information next to the link before clicking on the link.

Antislavery Old Sturbridge Village
See the documents and education suggestions about Female Anti-Slavery Societies under Education-Teacher Resources- Lesson plans. All of the documents are from the New England area and provide information about the growing concern about slavery in the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Cobblestone (February 2003): The Underground Railroad: Abolitionist Movement Issue. Teacher’s Guide:
The issue includes articles on the Fugitive Slave laws of 1793 and 1850, the Abolitionist movement and the men and women who were part of that, and the establishment of planned communities for escaped slaves in Canada. Free Articles from Cobblestone are available at:
www.cobblestonepub.com/pages/freearticles.htm