Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery (1998) s01e04 Episode Script

PRESENTING HISTORY'S BES ON PBS.
Woman: # YOUR COUNTRY # HOW CAME IT YOURS? BEFORE THE PILGRIMS LANDED WE WERE HERE.
YOUR COUNTRY HOW CAME IT YOURS? BEFORE THE PILGRIMS LANDED WE WERE HERE.
AFRICANS IN AMERICA [with captioning.]
HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE BY A GRAN FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMEN FOR THE HUMANITIES EXPANDING AMERICA'S UNDERSTANDING OF WHO WE WERE WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE WILL BE.
THEY WERE TORN FROM HOMES AND FAMILIES YET THEY NEVER LET GO OF THEIR COURAGE AND PERSEVERANCE AND OUR NATION IS STRONGER BECAUSE OF IT.
THAT'S WHY AFRICANS IN AMERICA IS PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY BANKERS TRUST, ARCHITECTS OF VALUE.
A HOME IS MORE THAN FOUR WALLS AND A ROOF.
IT'S SAFER STREETS BETTER SCHOOLS STRONGER COMMUNITIES THE AMERICAN DREAM.
THE FANNIE MAE FOUNDATION HELPING AMERICANS ON THE PATH TO HOME OWNERSHIP.
McDONALD'S IS PROUD TO SUPPOR THIS PRESENTATION OF AFRICANS IN AMERICA.
ADDITIONAL FUNDING IS PROVIDED BY: AND THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL SUPPOR OF PBS VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
Man: "AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST REVOLUTION IN THIS COUNTRY "WITH GREAT BRITAIN "THERE WERE BUT 13 STATES IN THE UNION.
"NOW THERE ARE 24 "AND THE WHITES ARE DRAGGING US AROUND IN CHAINS AND HANDCUFFS "TO THEIR NEW STATES AND TERRITORIES "BELIEVING WE WERE MADE BY OUR CREATOR TO BE AN INHERITANCE TO THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER.
" "THE WHITES WANT SLAVES AND WANT US FOR SLAVES.
BUT SOME OF THEM WILL CURSE THE DAY THEY EVER SAW US.
" "GOD WILL CAUSE THEM TO RISE UP ONE AGAINST ANOTHER "TO BE SPLIT AND DIVIDED AND OPPRESS EACH OTHER WITH SWORD IN HAND.
" DAVID WALKER.
Man: "THE MASTER WAS FIXIN' TO TIE THEM UP AND WHIP 'EM.
"THEY SAY, 'MASTER, YOU AIN'T GONNA LICK ME.
' "THEY RUNS DOWN TO THE RIVER.
"THE OVERSEER, HE SURE THOUGH HE COULD CATCH 'EM "WHEN THEY GET TO THE RIVER.
"BUT BEFORE HE CAN GET TO THEM "THEY RISE UP IN THE AIR AND FLY AWAY.
"THEY FLY RIGHT BACK TO AFRICA.
I THINK THAT HAPPENED ON BUTLER ISLAND.
" SHAD HALL, A SLAVE OF GEORGIA.
Narrator: IN THE SEA ISLANDS OF GEORGIA THE SLAVE COMMUNITY AT BUTLER ISLAND AND ST.
SIMONS WAS ALMOST AS OLD AS THE NATION.
THE LABOR OF THESE ENSLAVED MEN AND WOMEN MADE THE BUTLER FAMILY ONE OF THE RICHES IN THE UNITED STATES.
IN 1830, PIERCE BUTLER WAS WAITING TO INHERI HIS SHARE OF THE FAMILY FORTUNE.
HE WAS A 20-YEAR-OLD PHILADELPHIA SOCIALITE AND HAD NEVER SEEN THE FAMILY PLANTATION THAT PRESERVED HIS AFFLUENCE.
BUTLER TRACED HIS LINEAGE TO THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC.
HIS GRANDFATHER, MAJOR PIERCE BUTLER WAS A SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION AND WROTE ITS FUGITIVE SLAVE CLAUSE.
THE YOUNGER BUTLER HAD LITTLE INTEREST IN POLITICS.
BUT LIKE OTHER MEN OF HIS CLASS, HE RESTED EASY IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE DEMOCRACY HIS GRANDFATHER HELPED CREATE WAS FIRMLY IN THE GRASP OF SLAVERY MEN.
Man: YOU COME TO WASHINGTON, THE SEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NATION THAT SEES ITSELF AS THE FREES NATION ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND IN THAT CAPITAL, WHAT YOU SEE IS, UH SLAVE AUCTIONS, SLAVEHOLDING PENS GROUPS OF SLAVES BEING MARCHED THROUGH THE STREETS ON THEIR WAY TO VIRGINIA OR FARTHER SOUTH SO THAT SLAVERY IS VERY MUCH IN EVIDENCE IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL.
AND NOT A FEW FOREIGN VISITORS MAKE NOTE OF THE FAC THAT THEY COME TO THE SEA OF AMERICAN FREEDOM AND THEY ARE STRUCK BY THE PRESENCE OF AMERICAN SLAVERY.
Narrator: ALTHOUGH 75% OF SOUTHERN WHITES DID NOT OWN SLAVES THE NEW PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON WAS A SLAVEHOLDER AS WERE FOUR OF THE SIX PRESIDENTS PRECEDING HIM.
MEN LOYAL TO SLAVERY DOMINATED THE SUPREME COUR AND THE PRESIDENTIAL CABINET.
WITHIN A FEW YEARS THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WOULD PREVEN PETITIONS AGAINST SLAVERY FROM EVEN BEING READ ON THE FLOOR.
Man: "THE RELATION WHICH NOW EXISTS BETWEEN THE TWO RACES "HAS EXISTED FOR TWO CENTURIES.
"IT HAS GROWN WITH OUR GROWTH "AND STRENGTHENED WITH OUR STRENGTH.
"IT HAS ENTERED INTO AND MODIFIED ALL OUR INSTITUTIONS "CIVIL AND POLITICAL.
"WE CANNOT PERMIT IT TO BE DESTROYED, COME WHAT WILL SHOULD IT COS EVERY DROP OF BLOOD.
" JOHN C.
CALHOUN, SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Narrator: MONEY INVESTED IN SLAVERY WAS BY FAR THE LARGEST CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.
BY 1830, TWO MILLION AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE ENSLAVED IN THE UNITED STATES WORTH OVER A BILLION DOLLARS TO THEIR OWNERS.
BY COMPARISON, ANNUAL FEDERAL REVENUES WERE LESS THAN 25 MILLION.
Man: THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S COTTON WAS BEING PRODUCED AND EXPORTED IN THE SOUTH.
THEY WERE SORT OF LIKE SAUDI ARABIA AND KUWAIT WITH OIL AT CERTAIN POINTS IN THIS CENTURY.
THEY HAD IT ALL AND EVERYONE ELSE WANTED I AND THIS GAVE THEM A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF ECONOMIC POWER IN THE WORLD AND OF COURSE ALL THIS RESTED ON SLAVE LABOR.
AND THE COTTON WAS SHIPPED BY NORTHERN SHIPS AND IT WAS FINANCED BY NORTHERN INSURANCE COMPANIES.
THE COTTON TRADE WAS THE BASIS OF SHIPBUILDING OF SHIPPING, MARITIME ENTERPRISE, BANKING, INSURANCE AS WELL AS THE EARLY FACTORIES WHICH WILL BE DEVELOPING IN THIS PERIOD TRANSFORMING THE COTTON INTO TEXTILES.
SO THERE WERE MANY THOUSANDS OR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NORTHERNERS WHOSE LIVELIHOODS DEPENDED DIRECTLY ON SLAVERY.
SO WHAT THAT SAYS IS THA AFRICAN-AMERICAN SLAVERY CAN MARCH RIGHT ALONG WITH THE NATION AS IT PROGRESSES.
AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENSLAVEMEN IS PART OF THE PROGRESS OF AMERICA OF WHITE AMERICA.
Narrator: FOR AMERICA, PROGRESS MEANT WESTWARD EXPANSION.
PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON FORCED CHEROKEES, CHOCTAWS AND OTHER TRIBES OFF THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS.
25 MILLION ACRES WERE SEIZED FROM THE INDIAN NATIONS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE WHITE SETTLERS MORE COTTON MORE SLAVES.
Woman: "I WAS MEDITATING UPON SOME MEANS OF ESCAPE.
" "I HAD MY SECRET HOPES, BU I MUST FIGHT MY BATTLE ALONE.
" "THE WAR FOR MY LIFE HAD BEGUN "AND I RESOLVED NOT TO BE CONQUERED.
"MY MASTER HAD POWER AND LAW ON HIS SIDE.
I HAD A DETERMINED WILL.
" HARRIET JACOBS.
Man: ONE CANNOT ARGUE THAT SLAVES WERE CONTENT.
YOU MIGHT HAVE TEN SLAVES ONE NIGHT WHEN YOU GO TO BED.
THE NEXT MORNING YOU CAN ALMOST BE BANKRUP IF THE SLAVES IF THOSE TEN SLAVES HAVE LEFT.
THAT COULD BE AS MUCH AS $20,000- OR $30,000-WORTH OF INVESTMENT THERE AND THEY JUST DISAPPEAR.
Narrator: ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE BONDAGE WAS AN ACT OF REBELLION.
RUNAWAYS WERE HUNTED BY LOCAL PATROLS AND PROFESSIONAL SLAVE CATCHERS.
IN EDENTON, NORTH CAROLINA HARRIET JACOBS WAS 21 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE DECIDED TO RUN.
SHE HID UNDER FLOORBOARDS, IN THE SWAMP AND FINALLY IN HER GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE.
Jacobs: "A SMALL SHED HAD BEEN ADDED TO MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE "YEARS AGO.
"BETWEEN THE BOARDS AND THE ROOF WAS A VERY SMALL GARRET.
"TO THIS HOLE I WAS CONVEYED.
"THE AIR WAS STIFLING, THE DARKNESS TOTAL.
"THE GARRET WAS ONLY NINE FEE LONG AND SEVEN FEET WIDE.
"THE HIGHEST PAR WAS ONLY THREE FEET HIGH.
RATS AND MICE RAN OVER MY BED.
" Narrator: FOR A WINDOW, SHE MADE A SMALL HOLE.
THROUGH IT, SHE WATCHED ALMOST EVERY DAY THE MASTER WHO HAD BEATEN HER AND STALKED HER SEXUALLY SINCE SHE WAS 15 AND SHE SAW HER CHILDREN, WHOM SHE COULDN'T TAKE WITH HER BUT WHOM SHE DARED NOT LEAVE.
RELATIVES BROUGHT HER FOOD IN SECRE AND CARED FOR HER SON AND DAUGHTER.
Jacobs: "I LIVED IN THAT DISMAL HOLE ALMOST DEPRIVED OF AIR AND LIGH "WITH NO SPACE TO MOVE MY LIMBS FOR NEARLY SEVEN YEARS YET I WOULD HAVE CHOSEN THIS RATHER THAN MY LOT AS A SLAVE.
" Man: WHO BETTER TO DEFINE FREEDOM THAN A SLAVE? A SLAVE PROBABLY NEVER LOSES SIGHT OF THE IDEA OF FREEDOM OR WHEN HE OR SHE DOES IS PROBABLY THE MOMEN WHEN THEY ARE DOOMED.
OUR SENSE OF FREEDOM WAS SOMETHING SPIRITUAL.
IT WAS LIKE A FIRE INSIDE OF US.
Narrator: FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE ONE OF THE GREATES THREATS TO SLAVERY: 182,000 IN THE SOUTH, 137,000 LIVING IN THE NORTHERN STATES.
IN CHURCHES, NEWSPAPERS, ANTISLAVERY MEETINGS AND NEGRO CONVENTIONS, THEY OPENLY DENOUNCED RACIAL BONDAGE AND WORKED TO OVERTHROW IT.
Horton: SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH HAD AN IMPACT ON THE LIFE OF EVERY BLACK PERSON IN THE COUNTRY NO MATTER WHERE THAT BLACK PERSON WAS.
IT WAS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE THA IF YOU WERE A FREE BLACK PERSON YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A FRIEND OR A RELATIVE MOTHER, FATHER, SON, DAUGHTER IN SLAVERY AND SO YOU HAD THA VERY PERSONAL CONNECTION.
Narrator: IN BOSTON, DAVID WALKER HAD NEVER BEEN ANYONE'S PROPERTY.
HE MADE A GOOD LIVING AS A USED-CLOTHING MERCHAN BUT HIS FATHER HAD BEEN A SLAVE AND IN 1829, WALKER LAUNCHED HIS OWN PRIVATE WAR ON SLAVEHOLDERS.
Walker: "AMERICA IS MORE OUR COUNTRY THAN IT IS THE WHITES.
"THE GREATEST RICHES IN ALL AMERICA "HAVE ARISEN FROM OUR BLOOD AND TEARS.
"AND WILL THEY DRIVE US FROM OUR PROPERTY AND HOME? "THEY MUST LOOK SHARP FOR THIS VERY THING WILL BRING SWIFT DESTRUCTION UPON THEM.
" DAVID WALKER.
Narrator: WALKER'S "APPEAL TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD" VIOLENTLY CONDEMNED AMERICAN SLAVERY AND RACISM AND CALLED FOR SLAVES TO RISE UP AGAINST THEIR MASTERS.
RACIAL BONDAGE, PROPHESIED WALKER WAS AN ABOMINATION WHICH WOULD CALL DIVINE WRATH DOWN UPON THE COUNTRY.
WALKER SAID, "NO BLACK PEOPLE ARE AMERICANS "AND THEY DESERVE TO BE NOT ONLY FREED BUT TREATED AS CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.
" HE UTILIZED THE RHETORIC OF THE NATION THE RHETORIC OF LIBERTY, OF EQUALITY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THREW IT BACK IN THE FACE OF WHITE AMERICA CHARGING THE NATION WITH BEING HYPOCRITES WITH VIOLATING THEIR OWN PROFESSED IDEALS.
Narrator: WALKER SMUGGLED HIS "APPEAL" INTO THE SOUTH BY SEWING IT INTO THE COATS OF BLACK SAILORS.
ITS FIERY RHETORIC ANNOUNCED A RADICAL SHIF IN THE STRUGGLE TO ABOLISH SLAVERY.
SOUTHERN OFFICIALS PUT A PRICE ON WALKER'S HEAD: $1,000 DEAD, $10,000 IF TAKEN ALIVE.
Man: THREE STATES GEORGIA, LOUISIANA AND NORTH CAROLINA AS A DIRECT RESUL OF WALKER'S APPEAL PASSED LEGISLATION MAKING I A CRIME TO TEACH SLAVES OR IN FACT BLACKS FREE OR SLAVE FROM BEING ABLE TO READ AND WRITE.
AND THE SOUTH WILL NOW BEGIN, AFTER THE EARLY '30s TO LIMIT CIVIL LIBERTIES IN A MAJOR WAY ELIMINATING FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, FREEDOM OF SPEECH AS A RESULT OF THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT.
Narrator: DAVID WALKER DIED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.
TWO YEARS LATER, IN 1831 WHEN NAT TURNER'S SLAVE REVOLT IN VIRGINIA LEFT MORE THAN 55 WHITES DEAD SOUTHERN OFFICIALS BLAMED IT ON PUBLISHER WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON AND HIS BOSTON NEWSPAPER, THE LIBERATOR.
AT AGE 26, GARRISON WAS IMPOVERISHED.
HE SLEPT IN HIS TINY PRESS OFFICE AND WAS RIDICULED FOR HIRING A BLACK APPRENTICE.
HIS ANTISLAVERY NEWSPAPER WAS IN CONTINUAL DANGER OF GOING UNDER.
BUT GARRISON'S PASSION TO DESTROY SLAVERY SOON MADE HIM NOTORIOUS AMONG SLAVERY'S SUPPORTERS.
LIKE OTHER ABOLITIONISTS HE THREATENED AN AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE.
Man: GARRISON WAS ALSO ONE OF THE FEW WHITE ABOLITIONISTS WHO SHOULDERED UP TO DAVID WALKER AND ACTUALLY HE SERIALIZED PARTS OF WALKER'S APPEAL IN THE LIBERATOR IN 1831 AFTER WALKER'S DEATH.
GARRISON BELIEVED THAT THROUGH "MORAL SUASION" AS IT WAS CALLED AT THE TIME BY AN ONSLAUGHT OF PERSUASION THAT SOUTHERNERS OVER TIME COULD BE CONVINCED OF THE SIN OF SLAVEHOLDING.
Man: "BEFORE GOD, SUCH A GLARING CONTRADICTION "AS EXISTS BETWEEN OUR CREED AND PRACTICE "THE ANNAL OF 6,000 YEARS CANNOT PARALLEL.
"I AM ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRY.
"I AM SICK OF OUR UNMEANING DECLAMATION "IN PRAISE OF LIBERTY AND EQUALITY; "OF OUR HYPOCRITICAL CANT ABOU THE UNALIENABLE RIGHTS OF MAN.
WE ARE GUILTY, ALL GUILTY, HORRIBLY GUILTY.
" WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Narrator: BLACK ACTIVISTS GAVE GARRISON MONEY SOLD SUBSCRIPTIONS AND FILLED HIS NEWSPAPER WITH THEIR OWN ANTISLAVERY WRITINGS.
THREE OUT OF FOUR SUBSCRIBERS WERE BLACK.
THE LIBERATOR BECAME THE VOICE OF THE ABOLITION CRUSADE.
ABOLITIONISTS, WHITE AND BLACK TRAINED THEMSELVES TO BE PROFESSIONAL AGITATORS.
THEY PREACHED THEIR ANTISLAVERY MESSAGE IN OPEN FIELDS AND CHURCHES, IN CITIES AND VILLAGES.
BUT AS THEIR ASSAUL ON SLAVERY INTENSIFIED SO DID THE BACKLASH FROM NORTHERN WHITES.
A MOB DRAGGED GARRISON THROUGH BOSTON STREETS AT THE END OF A ROPE.
IN ALTON, ILLINOIS, RIOTERS MURDERED WHITE ANTISLAVERY PUBLISHER ELIJAH LOVEJOY AND DESTROYED HIS PRINTING PRESS.
Washington: WHAT THE ABOLITIONISTS DIDN'T REALIZE WAS HOW DEEPLY EMBEDDED IN THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE SLAVERY WAS.
THEY DIDN'T REALIZE HOW POWERFUL THE SLAVOCRACY WAS.
AND THEY DIDN'T REALIZE HOW MUCH RACISM HAD EMBEDDED THE FABRIC OF AMERICAN LIFE.
Man: MOST WHITE AMERICANS KNEW THAT SLAVERY WAS WRONG.
THE WAY THEY RECONCILED THEMSELVES TO IT WAS THAT TO THINK THA IT COULD BE ABOLISHED WOULD BRING WORSE CONSEQUENCES ON THE COUNTRY.
ONE IS THAT IT WOULD DISRUPT THE CONSTITUTION.
IT WOULD PERHAPS UNLEASH CIVIL WAR; THAT IT WOULD UNLEASH A LARGE MASS OF FREE BLACK PEOPLE WHO WERE REGARDED AS NO ASSIMILABLE IN THE SOCIETY; THAT IT WOULD LEAD TO CALAMITIES.
Garrison: "DEAR BELOVED MOTHER: "SATAN HAS COME DOWN IN GREAT WRATH IN THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE, KNOWING HIS TIME IS SHORT.
" WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Narrator: IN PHILADELPHIA THE NEW ABOLITIONIST MEETING PLACE, PENNSYLVANIA HALL HAD ONLY BEEN OPEN THREE DAYS WHEN THE NATIONAL ANTISLAVERY CONVENTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN GATHERED THERE.
AS WOMEN SPEAKERS TOOK THE PODIUM THEY COULD HEAR AN ANGRY MOB OUTSIDE.
Woman: "DO YOU ASK WHAT HAS THE NORTH TO DO WITH SLAVERY? "THE SPIRIT OF SLAVERY IS HERE AND HAS BEEN ROUSED TO WRATH "BY OUR ABOLITIONIS SPEECHES AND CONVENTIONS "FOR SURELY LIBERTY WOULD NO FOAM AND TEAR ITSELF WITH RAGE.
CAST OUT FIRST THE SPIRIT OF SLAVERY FROM YOUR OWN HEARTS.
" ANGELINA GRIMKE WELD.
THEY WERE BRINGING WOMEN TO THE PLATFORM AND HAVING WOMEN SPEAK IN PUBLIC WHICH WAS A BRAND-NEW AFFAIR AND A THREAT TO THE ORDER AS PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD IT.
AND PERHAPS MOST NOTABLY THEY BROUGHT BLACK ABOLITIONISTS ON TO PLATFORMS SPEAKING IN PUBLIC TELLING THEIR OWN STORIES IN THEIR OWN VOICES.
ALL OF THIS NOW, TO MANY WHITE NORTHERNERS WAS A THREAT TO THE SOCIAL ORDER AS THEY UNDERSTOOD IT.
Narrator: THE NEXT DAY THE BLACK AND WHITE WOMEN HELD THEIR GROUND BUT THAT NIGHT, AS THEY EMERGED FROM THE BUILDING LINKED ARM-IN-ARM, THE MOB STONED THEM.
Garrison: "THE MOB NOW INCREASED TO SEVERAL THOUSAND "AND GOT IN THE HALL BY DASHING OPEN THE DOORS WITH THEIR AXES.
"THEY THEN SET FIRE TO THIS HUGE BUILDING AND IN THE COURSE OF AN HOUR, IT WAS A SOLID WALL OF FLAME.
" Narrator: FOR ABOLITIONISTS, THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR DEMANDS FOR RACIAL EQUALITY THREATENED NOT ONLY THE SLAVEHOLDING SOUTH BUT THE PRIVILEGES OF WHITENESS IN THE NORTH.
Woman: WE THINK OF THE JACKSONIAN ERA AS THE ERA OF THE COMMON MAN AND IN A SENSE IT WAS THE ERA OF THE COMMON MAN AS LONG AS THE COMMON MAN WAS WHITE.
AND SO HERE WE HAVE A GREA DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHITENESS GIVING CITIZENSHIP OR STANDING OR ALMOST PERSONHOOD AND NO MATTER HOW RICH YOU ARE IF YOU'RE BLACK, YOU ARE NOT A PERSON OR YOU'RE NOT A CITIZEN.
AND IN THE 1830s, OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN PLACES LIKE PENNSYLVANIA NEW LEGISLATION INSERTS THE WORD "WHITE" INTO THE REGULATION OF VOTING.
SO THIS IS THE, I WOULD SAY, THE GREAT WATERSHED OF WHERE WHITENESS MAKES THE BIG DIFFERENCE IN BECOMING A CITIZEN.
Ignatiev: THE RACIAL SYSTEM THE SYSTEM OF WHITE PREFERMEN IN EMPLOYMENT, IN POLITICAL ACCESS, IN CITIZENSHIP CAME TO EMBRACE VIRTUALLY ALL SO-CALLED WHITE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WHO DID, IN FACT, HAVE A STAKE IN THE ADVANTAGES OF RACIAL SUPREMACY.
THEY HAD ACCESS TO JOBS FROM WHICH EVEN FREE NEGROES WERE EXCLUDED.
THEY HAD THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
SO DEFINITELY WHITE PEOPLE GAINED FROM THE SYSTEM OF RACIAL SUPREMACY.
WITHOUT THA "WHITE" ITSELF WOULD HAVE BEEN A MEANINGLESS CATEGORY.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SIMPLY A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION LIKE "TALL.
" Man: "IN ALL SOCIAL SYSTEMS, THERE MUST BE A CLASS "TO DO THE MENIAL DUTIES "TO PERFORM THE DRUDGERY OF LIFE "THAT IS, A CLASS REQUIRING BUT A LOW ORDER OF INTELLECT.
"ITS REQUISITES ARE VIGOR, DOCILITY, FIDELITY.
"SUCH A CLASS YOU MUST HAVE "OR YOU WOULD NOT HAVE THAT OTHER CLASS "WHICH LEADS PROGRESS, CIVILIZATION AND REFINEMENT.
"FORTUNATELY FOR THE SOUTH SHE FOUND A RACE ADAPTED TO THAT PURPOSE.
" JAMES HENRY HAMMOND, SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Narrator: BY 1838, PIERCE BUTLER OF PHILADELPHIA AND HIS BROTHER JOHN HAD INHERITED THE BUTLER FAMILY PLANTATIONS ON THE ALTAMAHA RIVER IN GEORGIA.
OWNERSHIP INCLUDED 730 HUMAN BEINGS SLAVES WHO GREW SEA ISLAND COTTON ON ST.
SIMONS AND RICE ON BUTLER ISLAND.
AT AGE 28, PIERCE BUTLER A MAN WITH A TASTE FOR HIGH LIVING WAS NOW ONE OF THE RICHEST MEN IN THE COUNTRY.
HIS NEW WIFE WAS AN ACTRESS OF INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM.
KEMBLE BELIEVED IN ABOLITIONISM AND EVEN TRIED TO PUBLISH AN ANTISLAVERY TRACT.
BUTLER STOPPED HER FEARING IT WOULD BRING THE MOB TO THEIR DOORSTEP.
THEIR MANSION WAS ONLY SIX BLOCKS FROM THE RUINS OF PENNSYLVANIA HALL.
THERE'S SOME CONTROVERSY OVER WHETHER OR NOT FANNY KEMBLE KNEW WHERE HER FUTURE HUSBAND'S WEALTH CAME FROM.
THERE CERTAINLY WAS NO CONTROVERSY OVER THE FACT THAT SHE KNEW HE WAS VERY WEALTHY AND THAT WAS VERY ATTRACTIVE TO HER.
AND MANY PHILADELPHIA FAMILIES WERE ATTACHED TO THE PLANTATION SOUTH BY MARRIAGE, BY INHERITANCE.
Narrator: IN DECEMBER 1838 KEMBLE MADE THE TEN-DAY JOURNEY TO THE SEA ISLANDS WITH HER HUSBAND AND THEIR TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS TO SEE THE SOURCE OF THEIR WEALTH.
SHE HOPED TO PERSUADE PIERCE TO GRADUALLY EMANCIPATE HIS SLAVES AS SOME SLAVEHOLDERS HAD.
BUT SHE WAS ENTERING INTO A WORLD FOR WHICH NOTHING IN HER LIFE HAD PREPARED HER.
Kemble: "WE NOW APPROACHED THE LOW REEDY BANKS OF BUTLER ISLAND.
"THE WHARF BEGAN TO BE CROWDED "WITH NEGROES SHOUTING, LAUGHING AND CLAPPING THEIR HANDS "A USUAL EXPRESSION OF SAVAGES AND CHILDREN "TO EXPRESS THEIR ECSTASY AT OUR ARRIVAL.
"THEY SEIZED OUR CLOTHES AND OUR HANDS AND ALMOST WRUNG THEM OFF.
"I BELIEVE I WAS ALMOST FRIGHTENED "AND IT WAS NOT UNTIL WE WERE SAFELY HOUSED AND THE DOOR SHU "THAT WE INDULGED IN A FIT OF LAUGHING QUITE AS FULL ON MY PAR OF NERVOUSNESS AS OF AMUSEMENT.
" Narrator: ALTHOUGH KEMBLE BROUGHT WITH HER ALL THE RACIAL ANXIETIES AND PREJUDICES OF HER TIME SHE WAS DRAWN TO THE PEOPLE IN THIS PLACE SHE CALLED "NEGROLAND.
" SHE KEPT A VERY CAREFUL JOURNAL WHILE SHE WAS THERE.
SHE GOT ACQUAINTED, ESPECIALLY WITH SLAVE WOMEN WHO GRADUALLY CAME TO TRUST HER BECAUSE SHE WAS DIFFEREN FROM ANY WHITE PERSON THAT THEY HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE.
Narrator: THE BUTLER RICE PLANTATION WAS THE LARGEST IN GEORGIA ONE OF THE BIGGES IN THE UNITED STATES.
HERE ON HER HUSBAND'S ESTATE KEMBLE EXPECTED TO FIND THE PEOPLE WELL CARED FOR.
Dusinberre: WELL, ONE EVENING, NINE WOMEN CAME IN AND SHE THOUGHT, WELL, SHE HAD BEEN GETTING THESE STORIES ABOUT HOW MANY MISCARRIAGES THEY HAD HAD AND HOW MANY CHILDREN HAD DIED SO SHE THOUGHT, "WELL, THIS EVENING I'LL ASK THEM ALL.
I'LL ASK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.
" Kemble: "NANNY HAS HAD THREE CHILDREN.
"TWO OF THEM ARE DEAD.
"SHE CAME TO IMPLORE THAT THE RULE "OF SENDING THEM INTO THE FIELDS THREE WEEKS AFTER GIVING BIRTH "MIGHT BE ALTERED.
"LEAH, CAESAR'S WIFE, HAS HAD SIX CHILDREN.
"THREE ARE DEAD.
"SARAH, STEVEN'S WIFE "THIS WOMAN'S CASE AND HISTORY WERE ALIKE DEPLORABLE.
"SHE HAD HAD FOUR MISCARRIAGES "HAD BROUGHT SEVEN CHILDREN INTO THE WORLD "FIVE OF WHOM WERE DEAD AND WAS AGAIN WITH CHILD.
" Narrator: ON BUTLER ISLAND, CHRONIC MALARIA SICKENED THE MOTHERS AND CREATED MISCARRIAGES AND WEAK INFANTS.
MORE THAN HALF THE ENSLAVED CHILDREN DIED BEFORE THE AGE OF SIX.
Kemble: "I STOOD IN PROFOUND IGNORANCE "SICKENING WITH THE SIGHT OF SUFFERING "WHICH I KNEW NO HOW TO ALLEVIATE.
"AND I BEG YOU TO BEAR IN MIND "THAT THE NEGROES ON MR.
BUTLER'S ESTATE ARE GENERALLY CONSIDERED WELL OFF.
" Narrator: 280,000 PEOPLE WERE ENSLAVED IN GEORGIA IN 1838 ALMOST HALF THE STATE'S POPULATION.
EFFECTIVE SLAVE MANAGEMENT THE SCIENCE OF CARING FOR AND WORKING NEGRO SLAVES WAS WIDELY DISCUSSED IN AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS.
IN THIS ESSAY, BUTLER OVERSEER ROSWELL KING, JR.
OFFERED READERS EXPERT ADVICE ON PROPER DIET AND MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR NEGROES.
BUT KEMBLE DISCOVERED KING AND HIS FATHER HAD RAPED NUMBERS OF SLAVE WOMEN AT BUTLER ISLAND.
Kemble: "BETTY, FRANK'S WIFE, WAS TAKEN FROM HIM BY THE OVERSEER "THE ALL-EFFICIEN AND ALL-SATISFACTORY MR.
KING "AND SHE HAD A SON BY HIM.
"I DO NOT KNOW HOW LONG "MR.
KING'S OCCUPATION OF FRANK'S WIFE CONTINUED.
THIS OUTRAGE WAS NOTORIOUS AMONG THE SLAVES.
" Narrator: FRANK WAS "HEADMAN FRANK," THE BLACK DRIVER SECOND ONLY TO THE WHITE OVERSEER.
A SKILLED PLANTER FRANK SUPERVISED OTHER BLACK DRIVERS AND THEIR WORK GANGS.
HE ASSIGNED DAILY JOBS ACCORDING TO THE OVERSEER'S INSTRUCTIONS.
SERIOUS INFRACTIONS AGAINST THE SYSTEM LIKE STEALING OR RUNNING AWAY WERE PUNISHABLE BY "A COOL 100 LASHES.
" ON ANOTHER PLANTATION, GEORGIA SLAVE CHARLES BALL SAW PUNISHMEN EVEN MORE DISTURBING.
CHARLES BALL WITNESSES A HOUSE SERVANT, AS HE FINDS OU WHO'S BEING BRUTALLY LASHED.
SHE'S TIED HER LEGS AND HER ARMS ARE TIED TO THE GROUND.
SHE'S STRIPPED TO THE WAIST.
THE OWNER BEATS HER BRUTALLY, AND SHE'S BLEEDING AND THEN HE GOES INTO THE HOUSE AND HE BRINGS BACK A CANDLE AND HE LIGHTS THE CANDLE AND HE'S DRIPPING THE WAX ON THE WOUNDS OF THIS WOMAN.
BUT WHAT HE ALSO FOUND STRIKING WAS THAT AS SHE'S BEING WHIPPED HE LOOKS AT THE HOUSE AND HE SEES THAT THE PLANTER'S DAUGHTERS ARE LOOKING OU AND WATCHING THIS AS WELL.
Woman: # HUSH, LITTLE BABY # DON'T YOU CRY FOR YOU'LL BE AN ANGEL BY AND BY Horton: SUPPOSE YOU WERE A CHILD GROWING UP ON A PLANTATION.
THE PEOPLE WHO RAISE YOU YOUR SURROGATE MOTHER, YOUR MAMMY, IS A BLACK WOMAN.
THIS IS A PERSON THAT RAISES YOU FROM THE TIME YOU ARE THIS HIGH UNTIL ADULTHOOD.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON THIS CHILD OF HAVING HIS SURROGATE MOTHER BECOME HIS PROPERTY? WHAT IS THE IMPAC OF HAVING HIS BEST FRIEND WHO IS A BLACK SLAVE CHILD, COME TO HIM ONE DAY AND SAY "DO YOU KNOW THAT YOUR FATHER HAS SOLD MY FATHER?" WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THA ON THE WHITE CHILD? Kemble: "I AM GETTING PERFECTLY SAVAGE OVER ALL THESE DOINGS "AND REALLY SHOULD CONSIDER MY OWN THROA "AND THOSE OF MY CHILDREN WELL-CU "IF SOME NIGHT THE PEOPLE WERE TO TAKE IT INTO THEIR HEADS TO CLEAR OFF SCORES IN THAT FASHION.
" Narrator: AT BUTLER ISLAND, THE PREACHER, COOPER LONDON SECRETLY ASKED KEMBLE FOR BIBLES TO TEACH THE PEOPLE TO READ SOMETHING THEY BOTH KNEW WAS AGAINST THE LAW.
WHEN KEMBLE ASKED HIM HOW HE'D LEARNED TO READ HE KEPT SILENT.
KEMBLE CONTINUED TO BRING HER HUSBAND SLAVE PETITIONS FOR MORE FOOD, FOR RAGS FOR A LONGER RESTING PERIOD AFTER CHILDBIRTH.
THE MEN, FORCED TO PULL THEIR OWN PLOWS, ASKED FOR MULES.
FINALLY, PIERCE BUTLER HAD ENOUGH OF PETITIONS.
Kemble: "TODAY I HAVE HAD A MOST PAINFUL CONVERSATION "WITH MR.
BUTLER, WHO HAS DECLINED RECEIVING "ANY OF THE PEOPLE'S PETITIONS THROUGH ME.
"WHETHER HE IS WEARIED WITH THESE SUPPLICATIONS "OR WHETHER HE HAS BEEN ANNOYED "AT THE NUMBER OF HORRIBLE STORIES OF OPPRESSION "WHICH CANNOT BE DONE AWAY WITH BY HIS ANGRY EXCLAMATIONS "OF 'WHY DO YOU BELIEVE SUCH TRASH? "DON'T YOU KNOW THE NIGGERS ARE ALL DAMNED LIARS? ' I DO NOT KNOW.
" "THIS IS NO PLACE FOR ME "SINCE I WAS NOT BORN AMONG SLAVES AND CANNOT BEAR TO LIVE AMONG THEM.
" Jacobs: "I LONG TO DRAW IN A PLENTIFUL DRAUGHT OF FRESH AIR "TO STRETCH MY CRAMPED LIMBS "TO FEEL THE EARTH UNDER MY FEET AGAIN.
"MY RELATIVES ARE ON THE LOOKOU FOR A CHANCE OF ESCAPE BUT NONE SEEMED TOLERABLY SAFE.
" HARRIET JACOBS.
Narrator: ON A NIGHT IN 1842 FRIENDS AT LAST SMUGGLED HARRIET JACOBS NORTH TO PHILADELPHIA BY SEA.
HER SON WAS SAFE WITH HER FREE GRANDMOTHER.
HER DAUGHTER WAS ALREADY IN NEW YORK.
AFTER SEVEN YEARS IN HIDING, HARRIET JACOBS WAS FREE.
Jacobs: "THE NEXT MORNING, I WAS ON DECK AS SOON AS THE DAY DAWNED "TO SEE THE SUN RISE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON FREE SOIL.
"WE WATCHED THE REDDENING SKY AND SAW THE GREAT ORB COME UP OUT OF THE WATER.
" "SOON THE WAVES BEGAN TO SPARKLE AND EVERYTHING CAUGH THE BEAUTIFUL GLOW.
" "WE HAD ESCAPED FROM SLAVERY AND WE SUPPOSED OURSELVES TO BE SAFE.
" Horton: ONCE YOU'RE FREE THAT'S NOT THE END OF YOUR PROBLEM.
YOU'VE GOT TO WORK, YOU'VE GO TO HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE VERY PRACTICAL THINGS.
THESE ARE PEOPLE COMING OU OF THE SOUTH.
SO WHAT DO YOU DO IN TERMS OF DEALING WITH NORTHERN WINTERS? VERY PRACTICAL KINDS OF THINGS CLOTHING.
WERE YOU GOING TO STAY IN THAT CITY? WERE YOU GOING TO TRY TO MOVE FARTHER NORTH? Blight: WHEN BLACKS CAME TO THE NORTH AND LIVED IN BLACK COMMUNITIES IN PHILADELPHIA OR BOSTON OR IN NEW YORK OR OUT WEST, EVEN IN CINCINNATI THEY FOUND THEMSELVES LIVING IN LARGELY ALL-BLACK ENCLAVES.
THEY FOUND THEMSELVES LIVING IN COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY CREATED THEIR OWN CHURCHES WHERE THEY STRUGGLED TO CREATE THEIR OWN SCHOOLS WHERE THEY OCCASIONALLY, AS IN NEW YORK WOULD CREATE ORPHANAGES WHERE THEY ALSO TENDED THEY TRIED TO CREATE MUTUAL RELIEF ASSOCIATIONS TO TRY TO PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH INSURANCE POLICIES WITH THE ABILITY TO BUY LAND IF THEY WANTED TO MOVE OU TO RURAL AREAS.
Narrator: IN MOST NORTHERN CITIES COLORED AMERICANS WERE DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE TESTIFY AGAINST WHITES, SIGN A BINDING CONTRAC OR ATTEND WHITE SCHOOLS.
BUT EVEN THIS SEGREGATED FREEDOM WAS JEALOUSLY GUARDED.
RUNAWAYS KEPT A LOOKOU FOR SLAVE CATCHERS.
THEY FOUND JOBS AND RAISED MONEY TO PURCHASE LOVED ONES OUT OF SLAVERY.
Chorus: # COME UNTO ME # ALL YE THAT LABOR Narrator: BY 1840, OVER A THOUSAND ANTISLAVERY SOCIETIES HAD RISEN UP IN THE FREE STATES WITH BLACK AND WHITE MEMBERSHIP NUMBERING 200,000.
ABOLITIONIST WOMEN AND MEN WERE SENDING THOUSANDS OF PETITIONS TO CONGRESS DEMANDING AN END TO THE SLAVE TRADE IN THE CAPITAL.
ABOLITIONISTS BOYCOTTED SLAVE- GROWN RICE, SUGAR AND COTTON.
ANTISLAVERY SLOGANS AND EMBLEMS WERE SEEN ON EVERYTHING FROM SUGAR BOWLS TO CHILDREN'S PRIMERS.
BUT IT WAS THE POWERFUL VOICES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES IN THE NORTH THAT INFUSED THE MOVEMEN WITH NEW URGENCY.
Blight: WELL, THE SLAVE NARRATIVES WERE IN SOME WAYS AN ARGUMENT WITH AMERICA.
THEY WERE AN ARGUMEN WITH THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY.
THESE WERE WAYS NOW THAT A FORMER SLAVE COULD NOT ONLY PUBLISH HIS OWN STORY TO RELEASE HIS OWN IDENTITY TO SORT OF GAIN A KIND OF ORDER OVER THE CHAOS OF HIS OR HER OWN LIFE BUT IT WAS A WAY NOW TO DIRECTLY CHALLENGE THE PEOPLE WHO HAD OWNED HIM WITH A FREE VOICE, FROM A FREE PLACE.
Woman: "WHEN I WAS A SLAVE, I HATED THE WHITE PEOPLE.
"WHEN I WAS TEN YEARS OLD, WE WAS ALL SOLD.
"I SAID, 'OH, GOD, MY MOTHER TOLD ME "'IF I ASKED YOU TO MAKE MY MASTER AND MISTRESS GOOD "'YOU'D DO IT.
"'THEY DIDN'T GET GOOD.
"'GOD, MAYBE YOU CAN'T DO IT.
"KILL THEM.
' "YOU SEE, I KNOW WHAT IT IS "TO BE TAKEN IN THE BARN AND TIED UP AND THE BLOOD DRAWED OU OF YOUR BARE BACK.
" SOJOURNER TRUTH.
Horton: AND IT'S VERY IMPORTAN FOR THESE PEOPLE FOR WHITE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN SMALL TOWNS, ISOLATED WHO MAY REALLY HAVE NEVER SEEN, CERTAINLY NEVER SEEN A SLAVE MAY NOT HAVE EVER SEEN A BLACK PERSON TO HAVE A REAL LIVING, BREATHING PERSON STAND BEFORE THEM AND SAY, "I WAS A SLAVE.
"THIS WAS MY LIFE.
THIS IS WHAT SLAVERY IS LIKE.
" Narrator: IN 1845, THE NARRATIVE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS QUICKLY BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER.
DOUGLASS, A FUGITIVE FROM MARYLAND, RISKED RECAPTURE BY BECOMING AN OUTSPOKEN LEADER IN THE ABOLITIONIST CAUSE.
Douglass: "WE HOLD SLAVERY TO BE A SYSTEM OF LAWLESS VIOLENCE THAT IT NEVER WAS LAWFUL AND NEVER CAN BE MADE SO.
" FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
Narrator: IT WAS NOT ONLY SLAVERY THAT DOUGLASS AND OTHER ABOLITIONISTS WERE CALLING INTO QUESTION BUT THE BELIEF THAT THE CONSTITUTION PROTECTED THE RIGHT TO OWN HUMAN BEINGS.
Douglass: "THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES "INAUGURATED 'TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION "AND SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY' "COULD NOT WELL HAVE BEEN DESIGNED AT THE SAME TIME "TO MAINTAIN AND PERPETUATE "A SYSTEM OF RAPE AND MURDER LIKE SLAVERY.
NOT ONE WORD CAN BE FOUND TO AUTHORIZE SUCH A BELIEF.
" Foner: THE ABOLITIONISTS, YOU MIGHT SAY INVENTED A NEW AND DIFFERENT CONSTITUTION A DIFFERENT READING OF THE CONSTITUTION VERY MUCH INFORMED BY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND ITS AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN EQUALITY AND POSITED IT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE DOMINANT VISION OF AMERICA AS A WHITE SOCIETY WHICH WAS SO PROMINEN IN THIS PERIOD.
SO THAT THE ABOLITIONISTS, YOU MIGHT SAY REINVIGORATED THE RHETORIC OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WHICH STATED THA THIS WAS AN ASYLUM FOR LIBERTY FOR ALL MANKIND BUT THAT RHETORIC HAD NO BEEN PUT INTO REALITY BY THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
THEY HAD CREATED A SOCIETY OF WHITE ENTITLEMENT.
Narrator: IN 1847, IN ROCHESTER, NEW YORK DOUGLASS FOUNDED THE NORTH STAR, HIS OWN ANTISLAVERY NEWSPAPER.
IN THE ANTISLAVERY BOOKSTORE ABOVE HIS OFFICES WORKED ANOTHER FUGITIVE FROM SLAVERY, HARRIET JACOBS.
Man: # DONNEY GOT A RAMBLIN' MIND # DONNEY GOT A RAMBLIN' MIND DONNEY DONE JUMPED THE FENCE GONE ON DOWN THE LINE.
Narrator: IN JANUARY 1848 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA'S AMERICAN RIVER CREATED WHA ONE NEWSPAPER CALLED "A REVOLUTION IN THE ORDINARY STATE OF AFFAIRS.
" MANY WHITE SOUTHERNERS SAW THE NEW TERRITORY AS A LAST LINK IN A GREAT SLAVEHOLDING REPUBLIC THAT WOULD STRETCH TO THE PACIFIC SHORE.
WITHIN A YEAR, 80,000 PIONEERS MADE THE TREK TO THE GOLD COAST.
MANY MASTERS BROUGH THEIR SLAVES.
BY ONE ESTIMATE AFRICAN AMERICANS SENT HOME FROM CALIFORNIA OVER THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS TO BUY LOVED ONES OUT OF BONDAGE.
WHEN CALIFORNIANS PETITIONED CONGRESS TO BE A FREE STATE SOUTHERN LEADERS THREATENED TO QUIT THE UNION AND FORM THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
THE PRICE FOR SAVING THE UNION WOULD BE THE RIGHTS OF BLACK PEOPLE.
IN 1850, IN RETURN FOR A FREE CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN LEADERS IN CONGRESS DEMANDED A TOUGH NEW FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
NO BLACK PERSON, FUGITIVE OR FREEBORN, WOULD BE SAFE.
Horton: UNDER THIS LAW, A PERSON, WHITE OR BLACK COULD BE DEPUTIZED ON THE SPO TO HELP IN THE RECOVERY OF A FUGITIVE SLAVE.
SO THAT IF YOU WERE ON THE STREE AND A MARSHAL WAS CHASING A FUGITIVE THAT MARSHAL COULD DEPUTIZE YOU AND YOU WOULD HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE RECAPTURE OF THAT FUGITIVE UNDER PENALTY OF IMPRISONMENT AND FINE.
Narrator: SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS WERE APPOINTED TO TRY SUSPECTED RUNAWAYS.
THOSE ACCUSED WERE DENIED A TRIAL BY JURY AND THE RIGHT TO TESTIFY.
COMMISSIONERS RECEIVED TEN DOLLARS FOR EVERY PERSON RETURNED TO SLAVERY ONLY FIVE DOLLARS IF THE MAN OR WOMAN WAS ACQUITTED.
Bright: IT NOW MADE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMEN AND NORTHERN CITIZENS COMPLICITOUS IN THE PROCESS OF RETRIEVING AND RETAINING SLAVES BACK TO THEIR MASTERS.
IT IS THE FIRST TIME REALLY IN THE LIVES OF MANY WHITE NORTHERNERS THAT THE SLAVERY ISSUE, THE SLAVERY PROBLEM KIND OF COMES HOME TO THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS COMES HOME TO THEIR COMMUNITIES.
IT MEANS NOW, TO HARBOR A FUGITIVE SLAVE OR EVEN TO BE AWARE OF A FUGITIVE IS TO BE COMMITTING A FELONY.
Narrator: IN NEW YORK, HARRIE JACOBS WAS TRYING TO MAKE A NEW LIFE WHEN HER FORMER MASTER'S DAUGHTER ARMED WITH THE NEW LAW, CAME NORTH TO KIDNAP HER.
Jacobs: "IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF A REIGN OF TERROR "TO THE COLORED POPULATION.
"MANY FAMILIES WHO HAD LIVED IN THE CITY FOR 20 YEARS "FLED FROM IT NOW.
"MANY A WIFE DISCOVERED A SECRE SHE HAD NEVER KNOWN BEFORE "THAT HER HUSBAND WAS A FUGITIVE.
"MANY A HUSBAND DISCOVERED "THAT HIS WIFE HAD FLED FROM SLAVERY YEARS AGO "AND THE CHILDREN OF HIS LOVE WERE LIABLE TO BE SEIZED "AND CARRIED INTO SLAVERY.
"I SELDOM VENTURED INTO THE STREETS.
"I WENT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE "THROUGH BACK STREETS AND BYWAYS.
ALL THAT WINTER I LIVED IN A STATE OF ANXIETY.
" Man: "I FOUND MY WAY TO BOSTON, I GOT EMPLOYMENT.
"I WORKED HARD, BUT I DIDN' TELL ANYBODY I WAS A SLAVE.
"ONE NIGHT, I HEARD SOMEONE RUNNING BEHIND ME.
"ALMOST BEFORE I COULD SPEAK, I WAS LIFTED OFF MY FEE BY SIX OR SEVEN OTHERS, AND IT WAS OF NO USE TO RESIST.
" ANTHONY BURNS.
Narrator: IN 1854, THE ARREST OF ANTHONY BURNS TRIGGERED A SHOWDOWN BETWEEN BOSTON ABOLITIONISTS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
ABOLITIONISTS SWORE NEVER TO ALLOW A FUGITIVE SLAVE TO BE TAKEN.
THE SOUTH, PERHAPS UNDERSTANDABLY SAID, "LOOK, THIS OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.
"IT'S IN THE CONSTITUTION "THAT WE HAVE A RIGH TO GET OUR FUGITIVE SLAVES BACK.
HOW CAN ILLEGAL GROUPS OF NORTHERNERS PREVENT THIS?" Narrator: AS NEWS OF BURNS' ARREST SPREAD HUNDREDS OF WHITE CITIZENS ME AT BOSTON'S FANEUIL HALL.
BLACK CITIZENS GATHERED IN THE BASEMENT OF TREMONT TEMPLE.
THE WHITE MEETING IS GOING ON DEBATING ABOUT WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING AND SO ON WHEN THE WORD COMES THAT THE BLACKS ARE ATTACKING THE COURTHOUSE AND THE WHITE MEETING EMPTIES OUT.
PRETTY SOON THEY'RE ALL AROUND THE COURTHOUSE TRYING TO BREAK IN TO GET ANTHONY BURNS OUT.
Man: "THERE WAS BU ROOM FOR ONE TO PASS IN.
"I GLANCED AT MY BLACK ALLY.
"HE DID NOT EVEN LOOK AT ME, BUT SPRANG FIRST.
"WE FOUND OURSELVES FACE-TO-FACE WITH SIX OR EIGHT POLICEMEN "WHO LAID ABOUT THEM WITH THEIR CLUBS, DRIVING US TO THE WALL.
"I DID NOT KNOW UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING "THAT ONE OF THE MARSHAL'S DEPUTIES, A MAN NAMED BATCHELDER HAD BEEN KILLED.
" T.
W.
HIGGINSON.
Narrator: THE MAYOR ORDERED TWO ARTILLERY COMPANIES INTO THE STREETS.
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN PIERCE SENT IN THE U.
S.
MARINES.
BOSTON ABOLITIONISTS WERE ALREADY NOTORIOUS FOR INVADING COURTHOUSES AND JAILS TO FREE CAPTURED RUNAWAYS.
PRESIDENT PIERCE WAS DETERMINED TO SHOW SOUTHERN SUPPORTERS HE WOULD ENFORCE THEIR FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW ANYWHERE EVEN IN THE SO-CALLED GREA ABOLITIONIST HEADQUARTERS OF BOSTON.
OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS THE CROWD OF PROTESTERS GREW TO 7,000.
THEY SURROUNDED THE COURTHOUSE AND THREATENED THE TROOPS WHO GUARDED BURNS.
BLACK WAITERS REFUSED TO SERVE THE SOLDIERS.
DOUGLASS AND OTHERS REFUSED TO APOLOGIZE FOR DEPUTY MARSHAL BATCHELDER'S DEATH.
Douglass: "FOR A WHITE MAN TO DEFEND HIS FRIEND UNTO BLOOD "IS PRAISEWORTHY, BUT FOR A BLACK MAN "TO DO PRECISELY THE SAME THING IS A CRIME.
"WE HOLD THAT WHEN BATCHELDER UNDERTOOK TO PLAY THE BLOODHOUND HE FORFEITED HIS RIGHT TO LIVE.
" FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
YOU COULD THINK WHAT YOU WANTED ABOUT SLAVERY HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY BUT WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL COMES TO YOUR COMMUNITY A BLACK INDIVIDUAL FLEEING MARSHALS WHO ARE GOING TO TRY TO GRAB HIM AND SEND HIM BACK TO SLAVERY IT PUTS SLAVERY ON A HUMAN LEVEL.
IT MADE PEOPLE HAVE TO CHOOSE.
Narrator: ON JUNE 2, ANTHONY BURNS WAS CONVICTED OF BEING A FUGITIVE SLAVE.
WHEN THE CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH WAS ORDERED TO BRING BURNS OUT OF THE COURTHOUSE TO SEND HIM BACK HE RESIGNED IN PROTEST.
Horton: THE STREETS ARE RINGED, ARE LINED, WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME IN FROM THE OUTLYING AREAS INTO BOSTON FROM WORCESTER AND OTHER DISTANT PLACES.
SHOPKEEPERS HAVE DRAPED THEIR WINDOWS IN BLACK CREPE AND THERE IS A COFFIN THAT HANGS ACROSS THE STREE WITH THE MESSAGE "HERE LIES LIBERTY.
" Man: "I FEEL MY INVESTMENT IN LIFE HERE IS WORTH MANY PERCENT LESS "SINCE MASSACHUSETTS DELIBERATELY "RESTORED ANTHONY BURNS TO SLAVERY.
"MY THOUGHTS ARE MURDER TO THE STATE.
MY THOUGHTS INVOLUNTARILY GO TO PLOTTING AGAINST THE STATE.
" HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
Narrator: 50,000 CITIZENS CROWDED THE STREETS.
COMPANIES OF U.
S.
MARINES, LOCAL MILITIA AND ARTILLERY MARCHED ANTHONY BURNS TO THE WHARF AND ONTO A SHIP BOUND FOR VIRGINIA.
THE SHOWDOWN WAS OVER, BUT SOME SOUTHERNERS ASKED THEMSELVES IF THE RECAPTURE OF ONE MAN WAS WORTH HUNDREDS OF TROOPS THE ENORMOUS EXPENSE OF $50,000 AND THE LIFE OF A DEPUTY MARSHAL.
TWO MONTHS LATER, ON THE FOURTH OF JULY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON PUBLICLY BURNED THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
THEN, AS THE CROWD SAID "AMEN" HE BURNED THE CONSTITUTION ITSELF.
IT WAS "A COVENANT WITH DEATH," HE SAID "AN AGREEMENT WITH HELL.
" Narrator: IN THE 1850s, AMERICANS HAD BEGUN TO MEASURE PROGRESS IN MILES OF TRACK LAID.
SOUTHERN STATES WERE BUILDING RAILROADS FASTER THAN GERMANY, FRANCE OR ENGLAND.
COTTON FINANCED THE RAILROADS OF THE SOUTH.
IT PURCHASED THE AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO BECAME LABORERS AND CARGO FOR THE IRON ROAD.
Man: "WHEN THE CARS BEGAN TO START AND THE CONDUCTOR CRIED OU "THE COLORED PEOPLE CRIED OUT WITH ONE VOICE "AS THOUGH THE HEAVENS AND EARTH WERE COMING TOGETHER.
"AS THE CARS MOVED AWAY "WE HEARD THE WEEPING AND WAILING FROM THE SLAVES "AS FAR AS HUMAN VOICE COULD BE HEARD "AND FROM THAT TIME TO THE PRESEN "I HAVE NEITHER SEEN NOR HEARD FROM MY TWO SISTERS "NOR ANY OF THOSE WHO LEFT CLARKSON DEPO ON THAT MEMORABLE DAY.
" JACOB STROYER.
Narrator: IN 1854, AMERICA WAS POISED TO BUILD A RAILROAD ACROSS THE CONTINEN WEST THROUGH THE KANSAS TERRITORY.
WHETHER THAT RAILROAD WOULD PASS THROUGH A KANSAS FREE STATE OR A KANSAS SLAVE STATE WAS A QUESTION AMERICANS NORTH AND SOUTH WERE NOW READY TO SETTLE WITH BLOOD.
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL, PASSED BY CONGRESS DECLARED THA WHOEVER SETTLED KANSAS COULD CHOOSE SLAVERY OR FREEDOM FOR THE NEW STATE.
Blight: TO A LOT OF NORTHERNERS THEIR CONCEPTION OF THE FUTURE OF THE WEST WAS HELD TOGETHER BY THIS GEOGRAPHICAL GUARANTEE THAT SLAVERY COULD NEVER EXIS ABOVE THE 36'30" PARALLEL.
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT NOW IN 1854 ERASES THAT 34-YEAR-OLD VOW WHICH HAD THE SANCTION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
IT NOW MEANT THAT THE SETTLEMEN OF THIS VAST TERRITORY OF THE WEST AND THE NORTHWES WAS OPEN TO SLAVERY.
IT WAS OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY OF THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, EIGHT NEW SLAVE STATES.
Narrator: FROM NORTHERN STATES THOUSANDS OF PIONEERS SET OUT TO SETTLE KANSAS.
THE NEW ENGLAND EMIGRANT AID COMPANY FINANCED THE SETTLEMEN OF ENTIRE VILLAGES.
IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK ABOLITIONIST PREACHER HENRY WARD BEECHER RAISED FUNDS TO GIVE RIFLES TO THE FREE-SOIL SETTLERS.
FROM MISSOURI, GEORGIA AND OTHER SOUTHERN STATES WHITE SETTLERS CAME TO KANSAS ARMED TO THE TEETH FOR THE SLAVERY CAUSE.
Man: "IF KANSAS IS NOT MADE A SLAVE STATE, IT REQUIRES NO SAGE "TO TELL THAT WITHOUT SOME VERY EXTRAORDINARY REVOLUTION THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER SLAVE STATE.
" THE SOVEREIGN SQUATTER NEWSPAPER, KANSAS, 1856.
Narrator: BUT MOST NORTHERNERS WHO CAME TO THE PLAINS DID NOT WANT TO END SLAVERY NATIONWIDE.
THEY SIMPLY DID NOT WAN TO COMPETE WITH IT IN KANSAS AND THEY DIDN'T WANT TO WORK ALONGSIDE BLACK PEOPLE SLAVE OR FREE.
THEIR MOVEMEN WAS CALLED "FREE SOIL.
" FREE SOIL MEANT FREE STATES FOR FREE WHITE MEN.
Horton: IS THE FUTURE OF AMERICA GOING TO BE AMERICA AS WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY OR AMERICA AS A COUNTRY IN WHICH THERE ARE MULTIPLE RACES? ONE OF THE WAYS YOU CAN ENSURE THAT AMERICA IS IN THE FUTURE WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT WES WAS AS WHITE AS POSSIBLE AS FREE AS POSSIBLE FROM BLACKS, WHETHER THESE BLACKS WERE SLAVE OR WHETHER THESE BLACKS WERE FREE.
Narrator: SETTLERS WHO ONLY CAME HOPING TO BUILD FARMS DISCOVERED THEY WERE HOMESTEADING A BATTLEFIELD.
TWO OPPOSING TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS EMERGED ON THE PLAINS ONE PRO-SLAVERY, THE OTHER FREE-SOIL.
EACH GOVERNMEN OUTLAWED THE OTHER AND BOTH PUSHED TO EXCLUDE FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS.
Man: "COUSIN SIDNEY "WE HEARD THAT FIVE MEN HAD BEEN KILLED BY FREE-STATE MEN.
"THE MEN WERE BUTCHERED EARS CUT OFF "AND BODIES THROWN INTO THE RIVER.
"THE MURDERED MEN, PRO-SLAVERY "HAD THROWN OU THREATS AND INSULTS "YET THE ACT WAS BARBAROUS AND INHUMAN, WHOEVER COMMITTED BY.
"SINCE YESTERDAY I HAVE LEARNED "THAT THOSE WHO COMMITTED THE MURDERS WERE A PARTY OF BROWNS.
THE WAR SEEMS TO HAVE COMMENCED IN REAL EARNEST.
" EDWARD BRIDGEMAN.
Narrator: IN 1856, A RAIDING PARTY LED BY JOHN BROWN AND HIS SONS AVENGED THE BURNING OF THE FREE-SOIL TOWN OF LAWRENCE WITH THE BLOOD OF FIVE PRO-SLAVERY MEN.
AT AGE 56, BROWN WAS ONE OF THE FEW WHITE MEN WHO DIDN'T WAN AN ALL-WHITE KANSAS.
HE WAS A FIERY ABOLITIONIS WHO HATED SLAVERY BELIEVING, AS ONE ACQUAINTANCE PUT I THAT HE WAS MADE BY GOD TO BREAK THE JAWBONE OF SLAVEHOLDERS.
AS WHITE MEN KILLED WHITE MEN IN "BLEEDING KANSAS" DAVID WALKER'S PROPHECY OF AN AMERICAN APOCALYPSE SEEMED CLOSE AT HAND.
ON THE FOURTH OF MARCH 1857 THE NEW PRESIDENT, JAMES BUCHANAN, PROMISED THE NATION THAT THE U.
S.
SUPREME COUR WOULD AT LAST SETTLE THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES WHERE IT COULD GO AND WHERE IT COULD NOT.
DRED SCOTT, A SLAVE FROM MISSOURI HAD SUED FOR HIS FREEDOM ON THE GROUNDS THAT HIS MASTER HAD ONCE TAKEN HIM TO FREE NORTHERN SOIL.
IN HIS OPINION FOR THE COURT, CHIEF JUSTICE ROGER B.
TANEY RESOLVED TO DECIDE AFRICAN-AMERICAN DESTINY ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Taney: "DRED SCOTT WAS NOT A CITIZEN OF MISSOURI "AND NOT ENTITLED AS SUCH TO SUE IN ITS COURTS.
"WE THINK THEY WERE NO INTENDED TO BE INCLUDED "UNDER THE WORD 'CITIZENS' IN THE CONSTITUTION "AND CAN THEREFORE CLAIM NONE OF THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.
"THEY WERE CONSIDERED AS A SUBORDINATE "AND INFERIOR CLASS OF BEINGS, SUBJUGATED BY THE DOMINANT RACE "AND ALTOGETHER UNFIT TO ASSOCIATE WITH THE WHITE RACE.
"IT IS OBVIOUS THEY WERE NO EVEN IN THE MINDS "OF THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION "WHEN THEY WERE CONFERRING SPECIAL RIGHTS UPON THE CITIZENS.
" MR.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROGER B.
TANEY FOR THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, 1857.
NO BLACK PERSON COULD BE A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, SAID TANEY.
THIS IS A COUNTRY, "THE FAMILY OF AMERICA" AS HE CALLED IT, WAS WHITE.
AND THE SOUTH HAD A PERFECT RIGHT, HE SAID UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, TO EXPAND SLAVERY INTO ALL THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
Franklin: IN OTHER WORDS, TANEY SAID THAT SLAVERY EXISTED WHEREVER THE OWNER WANTED TO TAKE HIS SLAVE.
AND THEN HE MADE THAT VERY FAMOUS STATEMEN THAT A BLACK MAN HAS NO RIGHTS THAT A WHITE MAN HAS TO RESPECT.
Narrator: 1857, THE YEAR OF THE DRED SCOTT DECISION WAS A TIME OF FINANCIAL PANIC BROUGHT ON BY OVEREXTENDED CREDI OVERBUILDING OF RAILROADS AND OVER-SPECULATION IN WESTERN LANDS.
ONE OF THOSE WHO FACED DISASTER WAS PIERCE BUTLER.
BUTLER HAD ENDED HIS MARRIAGE TO FANNY KEMBLE IN A SCANDALOUS PUBLIC DIVORCE IN 1849.
KEMBLE RETURNED TO THE THEATER SUPPORTING HERSELF BY READING FROM SHAKESPEARE ONSTAGE.
BUTLER WAS STILL FAMOUS FOR HIS EXTRAVAGANCE.
HE ONCE LOST $24,000 IN A SINGLE HAND OF CARDS.
BY THE TIME OF THE PANIC, HE WAS ALREADY IN DEBT.
TO PROTEC THE FAMILY'S INTERES TRUSTEES WERE GIVEN CONTROL OF HIS ESTATE.
AFTER THE STOCK MARKET COLLAPSE IN 1857 IT WAS RUMORED BUTLER HAD GONE THROUGH AN INHERITANCE WORTH OVER $700,000.
TO APPEASE CREDITORS THE TRUSTEES SOLD THE BUTLER FAMILY MANSION IN PHILADELPHIA.
THEN THEY TRAVELED SOUTH TO GEORGIA TO ASSESS THE SLAVE PROPERTY.
"ALLOTMENT A" WAS PIERCE BUTLER'S SHARE OF OVER 900 SLAVES AT BUTLER ISLAND AND ST.
SIMONS.
"ALLOTMENT A" TOTALED 476 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITH A MARKET VALUE ESTIMATED AT OVER $260,000.
BY FEBRUARY 1859, THE BUTLER ISLAND PEOPLE HAD TO KNOW THAT SOMETHING TERRIBLE WAS COMING.
HEADMAN FRANK WAS LISTED AS "SUPERANNUATED" TOO OLD FOR THE BLOCK.
SO WAS THE PREACHER, COOPER LONDON WHO 20 YEARS BEFORE HAD ASKED FANNY KEMBLE TO SEND BACK BIBLES AND PRAYER BOOKS FROM PHILADELPHIA.
PIERCE BUTLER DID NOT WAN TO PUT HIS PEOPLE ON THE BLOCK BUT IN FEBRUARY, 429 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN INCLUDING A CHILD NAMED FOR THE MASTER WERE LOADED ONTO RAILWAY CARS AND STEAMBOATS AND SHIPPED TO TEN BROECK RACETRACK IN SAVANNAH.
IT WOULD BE THE LARGEST SALE OF HUMAN BEINGS IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
AND AS SOON AS TIMES GET TOUGH AND HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO LOSE HIS 500 ACRES OR BETTER BECAUSE OF TAXES AND HARD TIMES, THE FIRST THING HE DID HE WAS GOING TO SELL HIS SUPPOSEDLY FAMILY MEMBER, WHICH WAS YOU.
YOUR SKIN WAS BLACK, SO YOU WERE GOING TO BE SOLD TO MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE.
YOU WERE SOLD FOR AS CHEAP AS 200 BUCKS TO AS HIGH AS $2,000 BUT YOU WERE SOLD TO SAVE WHATEVER HE NEEDED TO SAVE.
HE WASN'T GOING TO SELL HIS MOTHER AND FATHER AND HIS SISTER AND BROTHER.
HE WAS GOING TO SELL YOU AND I.
Narrator: DAYS AFTER THE BUTLER ISLAND PEOPLE ARRIVED FOR INSPECTION, A COLD DRIZZLE BEGAN TO FALL.
Man: "THE AFFAIR WAS REGARDED WITH UNUSUAL INTERES "THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH.
"NOTHING WAS HEARD OF FOR DAYS "IN BARROOMS AND PUBLIC HOUSES BUT TALK OF THE GREAT SALE "CRITICISM OF THE AFFAIRS OF MR.
BUTLER, AND SPECULATION AS TO THE PROBABLE PRICES THE STOCK WOULD BRING.
" MORTIMER NEAL THOMPSON.
Narrator: THOMPSON CAME TO SAVANNAH FROM NEW YORK DISGUISED AS A SLAVE SPECULATOR TO RECORD THE EVEN FOR THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.
Thompson: "NONE OF THESE BUTLER SLAVES HAD EVER BEEN SOLD BEFORE.
"ON THE FACES OF ALL WAS AN EXPRESSION OF HEAVY GRIEF.
SOME APPEARED TO BE RESIGNED TO THE HARD STROKE OF FORTUNE.
" Narrator: BY THE FIRST DAY OF THE AUCTION THE DRIZZLE HAD BECOME A HARD RAIN.
DESPERATE FATHERS AND HUSBANDS TRIED TO CONVINCE BENEVOLENT-LOOKING PLANTERS TO BID FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES.
Bailey: YOU THINK LOVE WOULD BE DIFFERENT THAN IT IS NOW? THEIR PHRASE WAS "TRY TO KEEP THE FAMILY TOGETHER AT ALL COSTS" AND THAT'S WHAT THEY TRIED FOR.
THAT'S WHAT THEY PRAYED FOR, TO KEEPING THE FAMILY TOGETHER.
AND THEY'D DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THE FAMILY TOGETHER PRACTICALLY ANYTHING TO DO IT.
Thompson: "THE WOMEN NEVER SPOKE TO A WHITE MAN UNLESS SPOKEN TO AND THEN MADE THE CONFERENCE AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE.
" (auctioneer chanting) "THROUGH ALL THE INSULTS TO WHICH THEY WERE SUBJECTED THEY CONDUCTED THEMSELVES WITH PERFECT SELF-RESPECT.
" "THE CHILDREN WERE OF ALL SIZES, THE YOUNGEST BEING 15 DAYS OLD.
" "THE BUYERS, WHO WERE PRESEN TO THE NUMBER OF 200 "CLUSTERED AROUND THE PLATFORM.
THE WIND HOWLED THROUGH THE OPEN SIDE, THE RAIN CAME POURING IN.
" "THEY WERE SOLD IN FAMILIES, BUT LET US SEE.
"THE MAN AND WIFE MIGHT BE SOLD "TO THE PINE WOODS OF NORTH CAROLINA "THEIR BROTHERS AND SISTERS SCATTERED "THROUGH THE COTTON FIELDS OF ALABAMA "AND THE RICE SWAMPS OF LOUISIANA WHILE THE PARENTS MIGHT BE LEF ON THE OLD PLANTATION.
" "WHO CAN TELL "HOW CLOSELY INTERTWINED ARE A BAND OF 400 PERSONS "LIVING ISOLATED FROM ALL THE WORLD BESIDES? "DO THEY NOT NATURALLY BECOME ONE GREAT FAMILY EACH MAN A BROTHER UNTO EACH?" Narrator: AT TEN BROECK RACETRACK, NO LEGENDARY POWERS OF FLIGH COULD SAVE THE BUTLER ISLAND PEOPLE.
FOR TWO SOLID DAYS REMEMBERED FOR GENERATIONS AS "THE WEEPING TIME" THE HEAVENS BROKE AS HUSBAND AFTER WIFE, BROTHER AFTER SISTER, CHILD AFTER MOTHER ASCENDED THE DREADED BLOCK TO BE CALLED OFF INDIVIDUALLY OR IN FAMILY LOTS AS STATED IN THE CATALOG.
THE NEW YORK HERALD REPORTED THAT ONLY AFTER THE LAST SLAVE WAS SOLD DID THE RAIN STOP.
MONTHS AFTER THE GREAT SALE IN GEORGIA DANGERFIELD NEWBY, A FREE MAN LEARNED THAT HIS OWN WIFE AND CHILDREN WERE SOON TO GO UNDER THE AUCTIONEER'S HAMMER IN BRENTVILLE, VIRGINIA.
Woman: "DEAR HUSBAND, I WAN YOU TO BUY ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE "FOR IF YOU DO NOT GET ME, SOMEBODY ELSE WILL.
"DEAR HUSBAND, YOU KNOW NO THE TROUBLE I SEE.
"IT IS SAID MASTER IS IN WANT OF MONEY.
"IF SO, I KNOW NO WHAT TIME HE MAY SELL ME "AND THEN ALL MY BRIGHT HOPES OF THE FUTURE ARE BLASTED "FOR THERE HAS BEEN ONE BRIGHT HOPE "TO CHEER ME IN ALL MY TROUBLES "FOR IF I THOUGH I SHOULD NEVER SEE YOU "THIS EARTH WOULD HAVE NO CHARMS FOR ME.
"DO ALL YOU CAN FOR ME, WHICH I HAVE NO DOUBT YOU WILL.
YOUR AFFECTIONATE WIFE, HARRIET NEWBY.
" Narrator: DANGERFIELD NEWBY HAD NO MONEY.
BUT THAT FALL, HE JOINED UP WITH 21 OTHER ABOLITIONISTS IN A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
THEY WOULD INVADE THE FEDERAL ARSENAL AT HARPER'S FERRY, VIRGINIA, AND USE THE WEAPONS TO FREE SLAVES THROUGHOUT THE VIRGINIA COUNTRYSIDE.
AS NEWBY SAW I THIS WAS HIS LAST CHANCE TO SAVE HIS WIFE AND SIX CHILDREN.
THE CONSPIRACY'S LEADER WAS JOHN BROWN A WANTED MAN WITH A PRICE ON HIS HEAD.
AFTER THE FIGHTING IN KANSAS HE CIRCULATED SECRETLY AMONG BLACK AND WHITE ABOLITIONISTS COLLECTING MONEY, WEAPONS AND VOLUNTEERS TO ATTACK THE FEDERAL ARSENAL.
HIS EXTRAORDINARY PLAN SUITED THE MOOD OF MANY BLACK ABOLITIONISTS.
SOME WERE ALREADY PREPARING THEMSELVES FOR WHAT THEY CALLED "THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT.
" Blight: THERE IS AN INCREASING SENSIBILITY AMONG ABOLITIONISTS BY THE LATE 1850s THOUGH THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PLAN I THAT SLAVERY IS ONLY GOING TO BE DESTROYED THROUGH SOME KIND OF VIOLENCE.
Narrator: BESIDES DANGERFIELD NEWBY THERE WAS OSBORNE ANDERSON FROM CHATHAM, CANADA.
FROM OBERLIN, OHIO, CAME LEWIS LEARY.
LEARY'S IRISH GRANDFATHER AND HIS FREE BLACK GREAT-GRANDFATHER HAD FOUGHT IN THE REVOLUTION.
LEARY RECRUITED HIS NEPHEW COLLEGE-EDUCATED JOHN A.
COPELAND, JR.
BOTH HAD ALREADY RISKED THEIR LIVES TO RESCUE A FUGITIVE FROM THE HANDS OF KENTUCKY SLAVE CATCHERS.
AND THERE WAS SHIELDS GREEN, HIMSELF A FUGITIVE SLAVE.
OF THE 16 WHITE RAIDERS, SOME WERE QUAKERS.
SOME HAD FOUGH ALONGSIDE BROWN IN KANSAS.
THREE WERE BROWN'S OWN SONS OWEN, OLIVER AND WATSON.
BUT MISSING FROM THE ROSTER WAS THE MAN BROWN WANTED MOST A HIS SIDE FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
BROWN HAD TRIED TO RECRUIT HIM AND FAILED.
Horton: IN ORDER FOR JOHN BROWN'S RAID TO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO OVERCOME NOT ONLY LOCAL MILITARY AUTHORITY NOT ONLY STATE MILITIA, BUT ULTIMATELY THE U.
S.
ARMY.
I MEAN, SLAVERY WAS PROTECTED BY THE U.
S.
GOVERNMEN NOT JUST BY SOME LOCAL OFFICIALS AND DOUGLASS KNEW THIS.
Douglass: "I TOLD HIM, AND THESE WERE MY WORDS "THAT HE WAS GOING INTO A PERFECT STEEL TRAP AND THAT ONCE IN, HE WOULD NEVER GET OUT ALIVE.
" Man: "ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16 "CAPTAIN BROWN CALLED HIS MEN DOWN TO WORSHIP.
"HE READ FROM THE BIBLE "AND THEN OFFERED UP A FERVENT PRAYER TO GOD "TO ASSIST IN THE LIBERATION OF THE BONDSMEN IN THAT SLAVEHOLDING LAND.
" "EVERY MAN THERE ASSEMBLED SEEMED TO RESPOND FROM THE DEPTH OF HIS SOUL.
" "AT 8:00 ON SUNDAY EVENING, CAPTAIN BROWN SAID 'MEN, GET YOUR ARMS, WE WILL PROCEED TO THE FERRY.
'" OSBORNE ANDERSON, HARPER'S FERRY RAIDER.
Narrator: AT FIRST, THEY MOVED SWIFTLY WITH MILITARY PRECISION.
THE ARMORY, THE FEDERAL ARSENAL AND HALL'S RIFLE WORKS WERE CAPTURED WITHOUT A SHOT.
A SQUAD RECRUITED BLACK MEN WILLING TO FIGH FROM NEIGHBORING PLANTATIONS.
BUT BROWN WAITED IN THE TOWN TOO LONG AND HIS MEN WERE DISCOVERED.
RIDERS GALLOPED TO SPREAD THE WORD THAT THE NIGHTMARE OF NA TURNER'S REBELLION YEARS AGO HAD NOW DESCENDED ON HARPER'S FERRY.
Anderson: "AS THE SUN ROSE, THE PANIC SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE.
"MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN "COULD BE SEEN LEAVING THEIR HOMES IN EVERY DIRECTION "IMPELLED BY FEAR.
"THE JUDGMENT DAY COULD NOT HAVE PRESENTED MORE TERROR IN ITS AWFUL AND CERTAIN PUNISHMENT.
" OSBORNE ANDERSON.
Narrator: BY MORNING, THERE WAS FULL-SCALE WAR IN THE STREETS.
FARMERS AND MILITIAMEN POURED INTO THE TOWN.
SOME OF BROWN'S MEN WERE PINNED DOWN AT THE RIFLE WORKS.
OTHERS BARRICADED THEMSELVES IN THE FIREHOUSE.
ALONG THE RIVER, IN THE STREETS THE RAIDERS WERE HUNTED AND SHOT DOWN THEIR BODIES MUTILATED.
Anderson: "OF THE MEN SHOT ON THE ROCKS "WHEN THE PARTY WERE COMPELLED TO TAKE TO THE RIVER "SOME WERE SLAVES.
"THEY SUFFERED DEATH BEFORE THEY WOULD DESERT THEIR COMPANIONS AND THEIR BODIES FELL INTO THE WAVES BENEATH.
" OSBORNE ANDERSON.
Narrator: IN 36 HOURS IT WAS FINISHED.
TROOPS LED BY COLONEL ROBERT E.
LEE AND LIEUTENANT J.
E.
B.
STEWAR STORMED THE FIREHOUSE.
OF THE 22 RAIDERS, TEN WERE DEAD.
JOHN BROWN'S SONS OLIVER AND WATSON WERE DEAD.
LEWIS LEARY WAS DEAD.
OSBORNE ANDERSON AND FOUR OTHERS ESCAPED.
SEVEN MORE WERE CAPTURED AND WOULD STAND TRIAL AMONG THEM JOHN COPELAND, SHIELDS GREEN AND JOHN BROWN.
FOR SLAVEHOLDERS, THE RAID WAS PROOF OF A NORTHERN CONSPIRACY TO INVADE THE SOUTH AND DESTROY ITS INSTITUTIONS.
BUT MORE SHOCKING WERE THE BODIES STREWN ALONG THE RIVERBANKS AND IN THE STREETS OF HARPER'S FERRY PROOF THAT WHITE MEN AND BLACK WERE WILLING TO DIE TO END SLAVERY.
Woman: "IN THE NAME OF THE YOUNG GIRL "SOLD FROM THE WARM CLASP OF A MOTHER'S ARMS "IN THE NAME OF THE SLAVE MOTHER "HER HEART ROCKED TO AND FRO "BY THE AGONY OF HER MOURNFUL SEPARATIONS, I THANK YOU.
"YOU HAVE ROCKED THE BLOODY BASTILLE "AND I HOPE THA FROM YOUR SAD FATE GREAT GOOD MAY ARISE TO THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM.
" FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS.
Narrator: ON DECEMBER 2, JOHN BROWN, 59 YEARS OLD SAT ON HIS COFFIN AND RODE TO THE GALLOWS CONVICTED OF MURDER, INSURRECTION AND TREASON.
ACROSS THE NORTH, BELLS TOLLED.
IN CHURCHES, PUBLIC MEETINGS AND IN NEWSPAPERS HE WAS PROCLAIMED A CHRISTIAN MARTYR.
THE CHARGES OF TREASON AGAINST JOHN COPELAND AND SHIELDS GREEN WERE DROPPED.
ACCORDING TO THE DRED SCOTT DECISION THEY WERE NOT CITIZENS AND THEREFORE NOT TRAITORS.
BUT ON CHARGES OF MURDER AND CONSPIRING TO INCITE INSURRECTION THEY WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH.
Man: "MY FATE, SO FAR AS MAN CAN SEAL IT, IS SEALED "BUT LET NOT THIS FAC OCCASION YOU ANY MISERY "FOR REMEMBER THE CAUSE IN WHICH I WAS ENGAGED; "REMEMBER IT WAS A HOLY CAUSE "ONE IN WHICH MEN IN EVERY WAY BETTER THAN I AM "HAVE SUFFERED AND DIED.
"FAREWELL, GOOD-BYE.
"SERVE YOUR GOD AND MEET ME IN HEAVEN.
YOUR SON AND BROTHER TO ETERNITY.
" JOHN A.
COPELAND.
Narrator: DANGERFIELD NEWBY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MEN TO DIE IN THE FIGHTING AT HARPER'S FERRY.
WHEN HIS BODY WAS RECOVERED, HARRIET NEWBY'S LOVE LETTERS WERE FOUND CRUMPLED IN HIS POCKET.
A YEAR LATER IN 1860, SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDED FROM THE UNION.
THE NEXT YEAR, CIVIL WAR BEGAN.
THE "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT" HAD COME AT LAST.
Douglass: "FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE SHOULD NOW BE PROCLAIMED FROM THE CAPITAL "AND SHOULD BE SEEN ABOVE "THE SMOKE AND FIRE OF EVERY BATTLEFIELD.
"LET THE SLAVES AND FREE COLORED PEOPLE BE CALLED INTO SERVICE "AND FORMED INTO A LIBERATING ARMY "TO MARCH INTO THE SOUTH AND RAISE THE BANNER OF EMANCIPATION.
" FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
Narrator: ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BLACK MEN RUSHED TO JOIN THE UNION ARMY BUT WERE TURNED AWAY.
FOR PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN THIS WAS A WAR TO SAVE THE UNION, NOT TO END SLAVERY.
LINCOLN FEARED OFFENDING THE SENSIBILITIES OF NORTHERN WHITES AS WELL AS THE BORDER SLAVERY STATES WHO REMAINED LOYAL TO THE UNION.
IN 1862, CONGRESS AT LAST OUTLAWED SLAVERY IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL.
A YEAR LATER, FACED WITH THE NEED FOR MORE TROOPS AND PRESSURE FROM ABOLITIONISTS LINCOLN TOOK THE FIRST STEPS TOWARD EMANCIPATION.
Douglass: "AN IMMENSE ASSEMBLY CONVENED IN TREMONT TEMPLE.
"WE WERE WAITING AND LISTENING AS FOR A BOLT FROM THE SKY.
"8:00, 9:00, 10:00 CAME STILL NO WORD.
"AT LAST A MAN EXCLAIMED IN TONES THAT THRILLED ALL HEARTS 'IT IS COMING, IT IS ON THE WIRES.
'" Narrator: THE "EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION" FREED ONLY SLAVES IN STATES AND PARTS OF STATES STILL LOYAL TO THE CONFEDERACY.
A MILLION SLAVES WITHIN THE UNION TERRITORY WERE NOT FREED.
BUT DOUGLASS AND OTHERS WERE CONVINCED THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF SLAVERY.
IN 1863, THE UNION ARMY BEGAN ACCEPTING FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS AND RUNAWAY SLAVES INTO ITS RANKS.
OVER 180,000 WOULD TAKE UP ARMS IN THE STRUGGLE.
AS UNION SOLDIERS FOUGHT THEIR WAY SOUTH THEY WERE MET BY THOUSANDS OF ESCAPING SLAVES.
SERGEANT GEORGE HATTON WAS STATIONED NEAR JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA WHERE THE FIRST AFRICAN SLAVES HAD COME ASHORE OVER 200 YEARS BEFORE.
THERE, HE SAW HOW MUCH THE FORTUNES OF FREEDOM AND SLAVERY HAD TURNED.
Hatton: "WE CAPTURED SEVERAL COLORED WOMEN "THAT BELONGED TO MR.
CLAYTON "WHO HAD GIVEN THEM A MOS UNMERCIFUL WHIPPING.
"ON THE ARRIVAL OF MR.
CLAYTON IN CAMP "THE COMMANDING OFFICER DETERMINED TO LET THE WOMEN HAVE THEIR REVENGE.
" Narrator: THE WHITE COMMANDING OFFICER FIRST ORDERED MR.
CLAYTON TIED UP AND FLOGGED BY A BLACK SOLDIER IN COMPANY "E" A MAN WHO HAD ONCE BEEN CLAYTON'S PROPERTY.
Hatton: "AFTER SOME 15 OR 20 WELL-ADDRESSED STROKES "THE LADIES, ONE AFTER ANOTHER "CAME UP AND GAVE HIM A LIKE NUMBER "TO REMIND HIM THEY WERE NO LONGER HIS "BUT UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER "AND GUARDED BY THEIR OWN PATRIOTIC "THOUGH ONCE DOWN-TRODDEN RACE.
"OH, THAT I HAD THE TONGUE TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS "WHILE STANDING ON THE BANKS OF THE JAMES RIVER "ON THE SOIL OF VIRGINIA, THE MOTHER STATE OF SLAVERY AS A WITNESS OF SUCH A SUDDEN REVERSE.
" SERGEANT GEORGE W.
HATTON, COMPANY "C" FIRST REGIMENT, U.
S.
COLORED TROOPS.
Narrator: THE NATION'S HEALING WOULD BE LONG IN COMING.
OVER 600,000 AMERICANS DIED IN THE FIGHT OVER SLAVERY AS MANY DEATHS AS IN ALL OF AMERICA'S OTHER WARS COMBINED.
WHEN THE CIVIL WAR WAS OVER, SLAVERY WAS DEAD.
THREE NEW AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OUTLAWED SLAVERY AND PROMISED THAT NO AMERICAN WOULD BE DENIED THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP ON THE BASIS OF RACE.
FOUR MILLION ENSLAVED AMERICANS WERE NOW FREE.
Jacobs: "DEAR MRS.
CHENEY "I WOULD LIKE TO WRITE TO YOU A LINE FROM MY OLD HOME.
"I AM SITTING UNDER THE OLD ROOF, 12 FEET FROM THE SPO "WHERE I SUFFERED ALL THE CRUSHING WEIGHT OF SLAVERY.
THANK GOD THERE IS NO MORE NEED OF HIDING PLACES.
" HARRIET JACOBS.
Narrator: JACOBS WAS ONE OF THOUSANDS WHO CAME BACK TO THE COUNTIES WHERE THEY HAD BEEN SLAVES.
LIKE THEIR FORMER MASTERS, THEY, TOO, BEGAN THE BUSINESS OF REMAKING THEIR LIVES IN A NEW LAND.
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM THEY ALL STARTED DOWN NOW WOULD BE LONGER, MORE DIFFICULT, AND MORE PAINFUL THAN THEY COULD IMAGINE, BUT THEY BEGAN.
Jacobs: "I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW I FEEL IN THIS PLACE.
"THE CHANGE IS SO GREA I CAN HARDLY TAKE IT IN.
"I WAS BORN HERE.
"I HAVE HUNTED UP ALL THE OLD PEOPLE "DONE WHAT I COULD FOR THEM.
"MANY OF THEM I HAVE KNOWN FROM CHILDHOOD.
"MANY WILL LEARN TO ACT FOR THEMSELVES.
"I NEVER SAW SUCH A STATE OF EXCITEMENT.
"MY LOVE TO MISS DAISY.
"I SEND HER SOME JASMINE BLOSSOMS.
TELL HER THEY BEAR THE FRAGRANCE OF FREEDOM.
" HARRIET JACOBS.
Narrator: THEIR STRUGGLE TO BE FREE, TO BE US, WAS ONLY BEGINNING.
Man: "HERE'S THE IDEA: FREEDOM IS WORTH IT ALL.
" MOSES MITCHELL, EX-SLAVE.
[Captioned by The Caption Center WGBH Educational Foundation.]
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