I. Introduction
A. “Let them know the heart of the poor slave - learn his secret thoughts - thoughts he dare not utter in the hearing of the white man; let them sit by him in the silent watches of the night - converse with him in trustful confidence, of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and they will find that ninety-nine out of every hundred are intelligent enough to understand their situation, and to cherish in their bosoms the love of freedom, as passionately as themselves.”
― Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
B. Background of authors and the slave narratives
By these writings depicting slavery for what it really was, inhumane, ugly, and unsustainable, helped promote the sensibilities and ideas that would eventually …show more content…
What set apart slave narratives from other works of the time was they claimed to be truth. Defenders of slavery could always claim that works like Harriet Beacher Stowe's were that of fiction, but the eyewitness accounts and graphic testimonies seemed to imprint themselves on the public.
C. Thesis: The slave narratives of Fredrick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Moses Roper, and Solomon Northup, were the four autobiographies by men of the 1800 that had the greatest effect on the abolitionists movement.
II. Fredrick Douglass
A. Thesis: Fredrick Douglass' narrative inspired other writers and became the core of the antislavery movement,
B. He brought the form to new heights making a huge impact in 1845 when in just four months he sold five thousand copies of his narrative.
III. William Wells Brown
A.Thesis: William Wells Brown's narrative inspired other writers and became the core of the antislavery movement,
B. His narrative was a best seller, published in Boston, and went through ten thousand copies and four editions in just two …show more content…
Thesis: The slave narratives of Fredrick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Moses Roper, and Solomon Northup, were the three autobiographies by men of the 1800 that had the greatest effect on the abolitionists movement.
B. Summary
These works of literature conditioned Americans to see slavery as the prominent issue at stake in the war that ensued.
“But the antislavery writers and reformers whose passionate words are assembled here were the vanguard of a global movement that by the twentieth century had fundamentally transformed the conditions of life and made human rights an expectation of people throughout the world. It was these writers who shaped the sensibilities and attitudes that made universal freedom imaginable, desirable, and obtainable.” (James G. Basker, AAW)
Gave readers something essential to African American freedom: the image of strong African American men capable of making it on their own and the message that African Americans are fit for participation in the American
A. “Let them know the heart of the poor slave - learn his secret thoughts - thoughts he dare not utter in the hearing of the white man; let them sit by him in the silent watches of the night - converse with him in trustful confidence, of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and they will find that ninety-nine out of every hundred are intelligent enough to understand their situation, and to cherish in their bosoms the love of freedom, as passionately as themselves.”
― Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
B. Background of authors and the slave narratives
By these writings depicting slavery for what it really was, inhumane, ugly, and unsustainable, helped promote the sensibilities and ideas that would eventually …show more content…
What set apart slave narratives from other works of the time was they claimed to be truth. Defenders of slavery could always claim that works like Harriet Beacher Stowe's were that of fiction, but the eyewitness accounts and graphic testimonies seemed to imprint themselves on the public.
C. Thesis: The slave narratives of Fredrick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Moses Roper, and Solomon Northup, were the four autobiographies by men of the 1800 that had the greatest effect on the abolitionists movement.
II. Fredrick Douglass
A. Thesis: Fredrick Douglass' narrative inspired other writers and became the core of the antislavery movement,
B. He brought the form to new heights making a huge impact in 1845 when in just four months he sold five thousand copies of his narrative.
III. William Wells Brown
A.Thesis: William Wells Brown's narrative inspired other writers and became the core of the antislavery movement,
B. His narrative was a best seller, published in Boston, and went through ten thousand copies and four editions in just two …show more content…
Thesis: The slave narratives of Fredrick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Moses Roper, and Solomon Northup, were the three autobiographies by men of the 1800 that had the greatest effect on the abolitionists movement.
B. Summary
These works of literature conditioned Americans to see slavery as the prominent issue at stake in the war that ensued.
“But the antislavery writers and reformers whose passionate words are assembled here were the vanguard of a global movement that by the twentieth century had fundamentally transformed the conditions of life and made human rights an expectation of people throughout the world. It was these writers who shaped the sensibilities and attitudes that made universal freedom imaginable, desirable, and obtainable.” (James G. Basker, AAW)
Gave readers something essential to African American freedom: the image of strong African American men capable of making it on their own and the message that African Americans are fit for participation in the American