Title The black hearts of men : radical abolitionists and the transformation of race / John Stauffer

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, ©2001

Click on the following:
ProQuest Ebook Central
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (367 pages) : illustrations Contents Introduction -- Radical abolitionist call to arms -- Creating an image in black -- Glimpsing God's world on earth -- Panic and the making of abolitionists -- Bible politics and the creation of the alliance -- Learning from Indians -- Man is woman and woman is man -- Alliance ends and the war begins -- Epilogue Summary At a time when slavery was spreading and the country was steeped in racism, two white men and two black men overcame social barriers and mistrust to form a unique alliance that sought nothing less than the end of all evil. Drawing on the largest extant bi-racial correspondence in the Civil War era, John Stauffer braids together these men's struggles to reconcile ideals of justice with the reality of slavery and oppression. Who could imagine that Gerrit Smith, one of the richest men in the country, would give away his wealth to the poor and ally himself with Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave? And why would James McCune Smith, the most educated black man in the country, link arms with John Brown, a bankrupt entrepreneur, along with the others? Distinguished by their interracial bonds, they shared a millennialist vision of a new world where everyone was free and equal. As the nation headed toward armed conflict, these men waged their own war by establishing model interracial communities, forming a new political party, and embracing violence. Their revolutionary ethos bridged the divide between the sacred and the profane, black and white, masculine and feminine, and civilization and savagery that had long girded western culture. In so doing, it embraced a malleable and "black-hearted" self that was capable of violent revolt against a slaveholding nation, in order to usher in a kingdom of God on earth. In tracing the rise and fall of their prophetic vision and alliance, Stauffer reveals how radical reform helped propel the nation toward war even as it strove to vanquish slavery and preserve the peace Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Subject Smith, James McCune, 1813-1865. Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874. Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 Brown, John, 1800-1859. SUBJECT Brown, John, 1800-1859 fast Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 fast Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874 fast Smith, James McCune, 1813-1865 fast Subject Abolitionists -- United States -- History -- 19th century Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century Abolitionists -- United States -- Biography Radicalism -- United States -- History -- 19th century Racism -- United States -- Psychological aspects -- History -- 19th century Anti-racism -- United States -- Psychological aspects -- History -- 19th century HISTORY. HISTORY -- United States -- Civil War Period (1850-1877) Abolitionists Antislavery movements Race relations -- Moral and ethical aspects Racism -- Psychological aspects Radicalism Abolitionisme. Radicalisme. Slavernij. SUBJECT United States -- Race relations -- Moral and ethical aspects Subject United States Genre/Form Biographies History Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780674043961 0674043960 9780674013674 0674013670

  Permalink