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The Significance Of Abolitionism And The Underground Railroad, In The Buffalo Area, 1840-1860, Timothy J. Nixon

History Theses

The movement to end slavery is commonly known as the abolitionist movement. As a city located next to the Canadian border, Buffalo was a major route on the Underground Railroad. Sadly, when researching abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, national research seems to gloss over Buffalo. If Buffalo makes an appearance in national history books on this topic it is usually only a mention of being an Underground Railroad route into Canada. If historians mention Upstate New York, they usually focus on Frederick Douglass’s home of Rochester. Using the accounts of abolitionists, fugitive slaves, newspapers, community activists, and guest speakers, it …

"At The Peril Of Our Lives": Race, Citizenship, And Philadelphia's 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic., Abigail Posey

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

The late-eighteenth century was a crucial time for determining the social role of black people in Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania at large. In 1780, the state legislature began a gradual abolition process that contributed to a growing free Black population in the city, while many other Black Philadelphians remained in bondage. Their livelihoods remained restricted by anti-Black laws that contributed to the overall poor health of Black Philadelphians. As the yellow fever epidemic began in 1793, Philadelphia’s medical community supported racist scientific myths that Black people possessed a natural immunity to yellow fever. In an agreement with the city and Dr. …

Between The Bars, Unique Shaw-Smith Dr, Eliese Maxwell, Victoria Otero, Catherine Trujillo, Habib Placencia Adissi

Creative Works

“Between the Bars” is a senior project exhibition, in collaboration with Cal Poly Sociology Professor Dr. Unique Shaw-Smith. Featuring artwork produced by incarcerated artists, the goal is to undo negative stereotypes and to empower the rehabilitation of incarcerated artists individually and collectively through art.The exhibit demonstrates that rehabilitation does occur in prison and emphasizes that art has the power to transcend all social differences and divisions. The exhibit features more than 60 works in diverse mediums including sculpture, painting, and poetry by 34 incarcerated artists from California Men’s Colony.

This catalog represents the onsite exhibit of the same name, which …

The Limits Of Self-Reliance: Emerson, Slavery, And Abolition, James Read

Political Science Faculty Publications

In the 1841 essay “Self-Reliance” Ralph Waldo Emerson presupposed a democratic society of free and equal individuals – an idealized America with a veil drawn over racial slavery. As his own commitment to the antislavery cause deepened over time Emerson sought to reconcile his ideal of self-reliance with organized political action necessary to fight slavery.

Recent scholarship has corrected the previously dominant image of Emerson as detached from politics and indifferent to abolitionism. But even as he participated in it, Emerson saw antislavery activism as a distraction from his own proper work of freeing “imprisoned spirits, imprisoned thoughts, far back …

The Forgotten Brother: Francis William Newman, Victorian Modernist, Kathleen Manwaring

The Courier

This article details the life and contributions to literature of the Victorian Era writer Francis William Newman. The article provides insight into his liberal views regarding abolition, women's rights, diet, and nationalization, as well as the tensions and creative differences with his famous brother and Cardinal, John Henry Newman.