The Abolitionists

As the 19th century got underway, American citizens saw the rapidly expanding nation as a beacon of hope, equality, opportunity, and equality. For a small group of anti-slavery activists in the 1820s, however, America was an "empire of sin," fatally flawed by the unholy compromise made by the Founding Fathers (many of whom were slave owners themselves). The abolitionists (as they came to be known) prodded and pushed a reluctant nation towards what would become a bloody civil war. Oliver Platt narrates this three-part PBS-aired American Experience documentary from filmmaker Ron Rapley that explores the personalities, tactics, and internal conflicts of these passionate men and women. At first, abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison thought that "moral suasion" could convince slaveholders to give up their property. But slaves had become one of the largest economic assets. Fugitive slave Frederick Douglass and Angelina Grimke, the aristocratic daughter of a South Carolina slaveholding family, would testify to the cynical, brutal nature of the slave business, but their lectures and pamphlets were met by defiance and violence in the South and skepticism in the North. After the war with Mexico added new territory to the union, it became obvious that slave owners—often with the cooperation of the courts and federal government—aimed to make the country a vast slave empire. John Brown, scorning "milk and water" abolitionism, hoped to "purge this guilty land with blood"—first with raids in the border state of "bleeding Kansas," and then with an attack on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, WV. Meanwhile, Harriet Beecher Stowe, mourning the death of her young son, pricked the nation's conscience with her empathetic novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Combining dramatic re-creations with insight from historians, this excellent documentary captures the passions, struggles, arguments, despair, and ultimate steely resolve of the abolitionist movement. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)