Guidelines for Paper #1
Yeshiva College
HIS 2225 and COWC 1015
The letters and speeches are authored by free black abolitionists (men and women).The purpose of the
paper is to examine the material and to glean the specific themes they contributed to the abolitionist
debate which may have been similar or different from the main concerns of the white abolitionists. You
are familiar with a sample of documents authored by white abolitionists we have read and discussed in
class: “Commencement of The Liberator” (1831),” “Declaration of Sentiments” (1833), both authored by
William Lloyd Garrison, “The New England Anti-Slavery Society,” and “Address of the Boston Female
Anti-Slavery Society to the Women of Massachusetts.” Although the paper will focus on the larger
number of the black documents, try to draw some conclusions regarding comparison of the two groups.
Critical reading of documents is the main goal of this exercise. Therefore, the reader should pay
attention to the obvious main points in each document, but also to phrases, style, arguments, rhetoric,
and specific phrases used.
Paper length 3-5 pages (double space)
Quote interesting phrases to make your point
Do not summarize each document – organize your paper by themes. Examples: colonization,
immediatism, use of Declaration of Independence, civil disobedience, use of religion and role of
church, the political arena, disunionism, etc.
Note that some themes are unique to the letters of the black abolitionists but absent from the
documents of their white counterparts
When quoting from the text in your paper, note the number of the document and the page in
brackets in the text.
