The NAACP and Its Architects

American Experience

History Series / 14 Seasons

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Watch Latest: S37 E2

53m

The Massachusetts 54th

2m 52s

With the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the war merged with the abolitionist cause. The Proclamation had included an unexpected clause: at last, black men could enlist in the armed services of the United States.

Fugitive Slave Act

2m 19s

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made the hunting down of escaped slaves, even in free states, fully legal. To abolitionists, this represented a huge blow to their efforts. Not only had the federal government endorsed slavery, but it had also committed to preserving the institution indefinitely.

Garrison Introduces Douglass

2m 16s

William Lloyd Garrison speaks to a crowd of abolitionists in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He introduces the self-emancipated Frederick Douglass, soon leading to a powerful partnership with a common cause -- immediate abolition of slavery.

Frederick Douglass Begins to Understand Slavery

2m 10s

At six years old, Frederick Douglass had just begun his life as a slave when he witnessed his aunt get beaten brutally by her master. "It was the bloodstained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery," he would later write.

Burning Abolitionist Literature

1m 58s

The Anti-Slavery Society's great postal campaign of 1835 flooded the South with abolitionist literature. Instead of bringing about the end of slavery, it triggered a wave of repression. In Charleston, SC, 3,000 people gathered in Post Office square to destroy anti-slavery materials and burn Garrison in effigy.

Angelina Grimke Goes Public

2m 59s

After reading reports of pro-slavery violence, Angelina Grimke decided she could remain silent no longer. She published a letter in "The Liberator" and wrote "An Appeal to the Women of the South," urging them to work for the downfall of slavery.

Garrison Publishes "The Liberator"

2m 21s

William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of "The Liberator" on January 1, 1831 with financial support from both black and white abolitionists. "There shall be no neutrals," he declared. "Men shall either like or dislike me."

Harriet Beecher Stowe Visits a Slave State

2m 21s

Having recently moved to Cincinnati with her family, Harriet Beecher visited the slave state of Kentucky in 1833, staying here at the Marshall Key House. While in Kentucky, she witnessed slavery up close for the first time. The house now operates as the Harriet Beecher Stowe, Slavery to Freedom Museum.

Two Abolitionists Unite

2m 49s

Abolitionist activists Angelina Grimke and Theodore Weld declared their love for one another and got married in 1838. Both a black and a white minister officiated and mixed-race guests intermingled freely. News of the event caused a stir in Philadelphia.

Failed Protests

2m 55s

In the Spring of 1854, fugitive slave Anthony Burns sat in Boston's city jail. Locals protesting for Burns' release turned violent before the U.S. President Franklin Pierce ordered hundreds of military troops to escort Burns to a ship waiting in the harbor. Though abolitionists were losing hope, they had shifted history.

A Powerful Partnership

2m 53s

In 1841 Frederick Douglass agreed to join forces with William Lloyd Garrison to advocate full time for the abolitionism of slavery. It is "an opportunity to strike a blow for the slaves who continue to suffer as we speak."

Douglass Publishes "The North Star"

2m 24s

In Rochester, New York, the last stop on the Underground Railroad, Frederick Douglass published abolitionist newspaper "The North Star," naming it after the icon followed by so many escaping slaves on their quest to freedom.

Triumph

1m 59s

The day after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Garrison was met by 10,000 freed slaves outside the Charleston Citadel. They seized him joyfully and carried him on their shoulders around the square before proceeding a few blocks to Zion's Church, where a mass of humanity pressed in to every available spot.

The Pottawatomie Massacre

1m 26s

On the night of May 24th, 1856, Brown and four of his sons dragged five pro-slavery men from their cabins, and hacked them to pieces with broadswords. "Brown is not simply evening the score in Kansas. He's really also trying to strike terror into the hearts of pro-slavery settlers."

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