Julie Roy Jeffrey, Historian:Angelina's religious search was tortured, tortured, tortured. Jim Briggs III Re-Recording Mixer Everyone knew what would happen if you were caught: flogging, branding, elaborate tortures to strike terror into any other would-be runaways. And it will serve no purpose. And abolitionists are accorded a newfound respect that they had never experienced before. Thomas Winston Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):I don't want them to remember me as throwing my life away for nothing. Alicia Ayoub Carol Berkin, Historian:Angelina attacked slavery not in the beginning because she cared about the slaves. Narrator:In the spring of 1833, Harriet and two friends crossed over the river into neighboring Kentucky. Nikita Moyer Jeremiah Hornbaker But all too often, African Americans were the victims of racist violence, from isolated beatings to the expulsion of entire black communities. Raymond (Jake) Henry James Fox The evening of Brown's execution, 4,000 people crowded into Boston's Tremont Temple. Bobby Jones It was an immediate and an immense bestseller. He telegraphed ahead with instructions to destroy the contents of his desk. I want you for a special purpose. Have them prepare a brief speech stating their position on the views expressed in the debate. Lois Brown, Historian:For Garrison, the work of abolition was about trying to make people come to a moment of conscience, and act accordingly. Jay Hairston William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff, audio):I have been actively engaged in this work for almost 40 years, but I never expected to look you in the face, never supposed you would hear of anything I might do in your behalf. Malika Jamison Narrator:In 1833, two years after William Lloyd Garrison launchedThe Liberator, abolitionists from all over the North gathered for the first time. We'll get him Hey, we'll get him on the way back out! Douglass and his fellow agents were sent out to recruit the foot soldiers for this campaign: the men and women who would organize boycotts, raise money, and petition Congress. Jay Fialkov Garrison, Douglass, Stowe, and their fellow abolitionists couldn't know it, but their long struggle had passed a tipping point. Robert Spencer, Key Grips New Castle Courthouse Museum, New Castle, DE Narrator:Garrison had launched his crusade in 1829. Shaun WoodlandWilliam Nell Slave Auctioneer (Brian Elder):Twenty-five. They vowed to spread the anti-slavery gospel to every city, town, and village, and they agreed to use what they called "moral suasion" to convert slaveholders to the cause. Mr. Frederick Douglass. The media assets in this collection feature historical reenactments and expert interviews that . And most significantly, in one sense, any white can be deputized at any moment, day or night, and is required to help round up the suspected fugitive slave. These Video Response Worksheets and Keys are based on the PBS documentary series "American Experience - The Abolitionists. Joan D. Hedrick, Historian:It was a terrible disease. And now, at last, John Brown was on his way to war, in Kansas. Jennifer Saunders He was invigorated in his new surroundings. William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff):This -- the Constitution of the United States of America -- is the source and parent of all the other atrocities: "a covenant with death, and an agreement with Hell." Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Rochester Library Mob (Actors):That was Garrison! Garrison himself woke one morning to find a gallows on his front lawn. You lost all the fluids in your body, you were wracked by convulsions, and there was nothing that anybody could do. Oh, God, they'll be after all of us. Mike Raybould James Brewer Stewart, Historian:They had seen through their own religious culture the conversion of people from the condition of being a sinner to being sanctified. Kevin Burger The postal campaign became a phenomenon. Lincoln thought Garrison should have the honor of helping raise the flag over the re-conquered fortress. He and his daughter Rosetta had booked passage to Haiti, with an eye to emigrating there with his family. Finally, near midnight, a messenger rushed onto the stage. Douglass wrote about, world, and his work and influence helped directly in, - All 3 Episodes - Worksheets and Keys PDF & Digital Bundle, These Video Response Worksheets and Keys are based on, . Slave owners wanted it all to be slave territory. Matthew Hanlon It almost doubles the size. Nathan Shifflette And Douglass reads this and says, "I'm outta here.". Tony Horwitz, Author:What Brown has done, ultimately, is just to expose the depth of the divide between North and South. Narrator:American Slavery As It Isbecame the best-selling book in the country. You're beautiful. Additional Casting When Garrison is forced to choose, he chooses abolition over his peace principles. I'm not afraid of you We're not fighting each other, we're fighting the God-damned abolitionists Just relax You back off of me Don't you mess with me, boy. Gabe Munitz-Alessio There could be little doubt that Brown would follow them. Jeffrey WilhelmEdward Covey William Lloyd Garrison (Neal Huff):My mother left me too. As Douglass listened to the proceedings, a friend from New Bedford unexpectedly called on him to speak. In many ways he reflects this for the rest of black America, that while Garrisonian tactics were just, earnest, they simply were not options that he thought would eventually lead to the end of slavery. And Douglass doesn't even tell him first-hand. abolitionists were often targeted and harassed, sometimes violently. "Before this law, I might have tried to send him somewhere else," she wrote her sister. Within a year the Anti-Slavery Society had flooded the nation with over a million pieces of abolitionist literature, along with medals, emblems, bandanas, chocolate wrappers, songs, and readers for small children. Coll Anderson M.P.S.E. Kathryn Boyd Flute Meanwhile, a few miles outside the city, anti-slavery activists marked the occasion in a very different spirit. Angelina Grimk (Jeanine Serralles):Did you hear last night? And when she read it to her family they were all crying and they said, "Mama, you've got to write the rest of the story.". John Jenkins. Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, CT Sarah Grimk (Wendy Carter):My dear, look at you. John Stauffer, Historian:TheDred Scottdecision had the potential to legalize slavery everywhere in the United States. Rather than backing down, Garrison upped the ante: Because the Constitution itself was corrupt, he charged, the Union was fatally flawed. At one of their first appearances, Garrison couldn't even finish his speech as the audience drowned him out with chants of Douglass! Frederick Douglass named his abolitionist newspaper, Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Narrator:Grimk's appeal met the same reception as Garrison's pamphlets. It had once seemed likely that it would disappear in the South as well, but no more. Narrator:Soon after their meeting, Douglass described Brown inThe North Staras someone who, "though a white gentleman, is as deeply interested in our cause as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery.". It was one of the contentious differences between the North and South that led to the Civil War. Elijah Lovejoy's death struck at something deep within John Brown, conjuring up a memory that had haunted him for years. Denver Public Library, Western History Collection John Chimples Their ship was due to sail in 13 days. It is nothing but the word of cowardice." The mountains are full of natural fords. Kenneth McCallum, Best Boy Grips The two men -- one a former slave, the other an impoverished printer -- are among the greatest civil rights activists in American history. Tomeka Carroll Jacob WashburnFranky Garrison There was nothing that you had to do that there wasn't a slave who took care of it for you. Garrison's father, a seaman and a drunk, had abandoned the family when Garrison was two years old. He still sees that as an enormous triumph for the abolitionist movement. But in their time together, she managed to drum a fierce Christian conscience into her son. This Video Response Worksheet and Key is based on the PBS documentary series "American Experience - The Abolitionists - Episode 2: 1838-1854." You will receive a zip file which contains a Video Response Worksheet (in both PDF and editable DOCX formats) and a Video Response Worksheet Key (in both PDF and editable DOCX formats). Natalie RacoosinElizabeth Key International Print Museum/Mark Barbour It must be crushed, it must be changed and reinvented. Over the years, Brown had attracted a network of abolitionist supporters. Madison Bay Company Kwabena Ampofo Anthony Burns Simply, sir, we welcome and look upon you as our savior.". Angelina Grimk (Jeanine Serralles):He's my brother! And one day, when I was six years old, my grandmother was told to walk me to the workhouse near the master's place. By this time, a company of U.S. Marines had arrived, under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. She thinks he is the most amazing man, that he is filled with a passion of abolition. Jordan Swenson The writing ofUncle Tom's Cabinwould be Harriet's way of making her baby's short life mean something. Joan D. Hedrick, Historian:In the Calvinist scheme of things, if God sent you suffering it was because he loved you and he wanted to teach you something. She walked all the way back a handful of times, but even so, they never let me know her enough to really love her. The meeting was held in Pennsylvania Hall, which had been constructed as a haven for free speech. As he contemplated his future, Douglass could imagine himself traveling forever in the shadow of his white mentors, repeating his story to small gatherings of the curious and the converted. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Historian:It's an expos about, of course, the horrible treatment of slaves. Hundreds of thousands of men, white and black, would be swallowed up in the abyss. Michael Brooks It was the bloodstained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery. Slave Auction Mother (Montrece Hill):No! Amula Gobah It reveals how the movement shaped history by exposing the fatal flaw of a republic founded on . Stowe was well aware of the punishment facing anyone who helped a runaway, but she was glad of the opportunity to defy the government. Corruption is general, constitutional restraints are as cobwebs. Congress had decided to let the settlers in Kansas decide the question for themselves. R. Blakeslee Gilpin, Historian:This guy's just led a raid to destroy slavery. What the country just said, from the heart of the government, is that slavery is forever. Frederick Douglass (Richard Brooks):Your boasted liberty is an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery. Narrator:Frederick Douglass returned to the United States in the spring of 1860, after Congress decided not to pursue Brown's accomplices, for fear of creating more martyrs. His 22-year-old daughter, Harriet, had inherited his views. Soon,Uncle Tom's Cabinbegan reaching vast new audiences, including many who had never read a novel, when it was adapted as a wildly popular play. Angelina Grimk (Jeanine Serralles, audio):I know you do not make the laws but I also know that you are the wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of those who do. And that becomes very, very divisive very quickly.