Testimonies Concerning Slavery

This 1865 book describes how the son of a wealthy slaveholder became an abolitionist after witnessing the injustices of slavery.

Moncure Daniel Conway (Author)

9781108026246, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 February 2011

154 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.9 cm, 0.2 kg

Moncure Conway (1832–1907) was born on his family's plantation in Virginia, but became a committed abolitionist soon after he left college. He joined abolitionist rallies and moved from Methodism to the Unitarian ministry, eventually becoming a freethinker. Conway became increasingly isolated from his family as a result of his abolitionist activism, his marriage to an abolitionist, and the resettling of a group of his father's escaped slaves in Ohio during the civil war. This book was published in 1865, soon after he settled in Britain, where he lived for over 30 years, became a supporter of women's suffrage, and networked with intellectuals including Dickens, Carlyle, Lyell and Darwin. His description of the injustices of slavery, including the slave trading in the southern plantations that triggered the secession of southern states and the civil war, is set in the context of his personal experiences and his evolving ethical views.

Introductory note
1. Early recollections
2. Treatment of slaves
3. The slave-whipper
4. The slave-harvest
5. Misgivings
6. Methodism
7. Northward
8. Slavery logical
9. The Negro
10. The abolitionists
11. Secession illegal
12. The comparative treatment of Negroes in the North and in the South
13. The parted sea
14. The probabilities of Northern success
15. An address to the English people.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]