I’d like to learn more about the northern abolition movement so I’m looking for some recommendations of history books on the subject.
Just to be clear, I’m not looking for books on the abolition movement in the northern states that was directed at abolishing slavery in the southern states; there are numerous books on that topic, several of which I’ve read. What I’m talking about is the movement that successfully abolished slavery in the northern states. I feel there must be an interesting story there that gets overshadowed by the topic of southern abolition.
The Northern abolitionist movement started with the Quakers. The first laws against slavery were in Pennsylvania (an area with a lot of Quakers), well before the United States became the United States. Quakers also led the abolitionist movement in other statescolonies like Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
There were abolitionist organizations before the Revolutionary War as well. I think the earliest was the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. They took a break during the Revolution (since folks were kinda busy with other stuff) and re-formed after the war had ended.
I don’t have any good books to recommend, but hopefully that points you in the right direction.
I recently read Cloudsplitter – it’s a novelized version of John Brown’s life. It’s not a history, but it’ll really give you an in-depth feel for the times. It’s very long, but completely immersive. I recommend it.
The only general survey of abolition in the North, that I know of, is The First Emancipation: The Abolition of Slavery in the North by Arthur Zilversmit. It was written in 1967. It’s rather dry and undoubtedly as out of date in its scholarship as most things written more than half a century ago. But again, in terms of a general survey, it’s the only book that I know of. IMO this would be fertile ground for a contemporary historian.
From Peace to Freedom is easily available and cheap, so I’ll probably get a copy.
The First Emancipation sounds more on target for what I’m looking for. But in addition to its age, it’s also much less available and much more expensive. (I’ve also checked the library systems I have access to and none of them have a copy.) So I’ll keep an eye out for a copy but it’s a longshot.
My thanks for the Cloudsplitter suggestion but it doesn’t really sound like what I’m looking for.