Town Hall Meeting - Reaction

 As I sat at the town hall meeting, I heard from various activists. The speakers ranged from known fugitive slaves like Araminta Ross, aka Harriet Tubman, to the sixth president of the United States of America, John Quincy Adams. The wide variety of speakers helped me and my classmates learn about the anti-slavery movement from different standpoints. 

Starting strong, we heard from Richard Allen who was also known as Negro Allen. He was born into bondage, he, his mother, and his five siblings were sold to Mr.Stugis, a plantation owner in Deleware. He did not have much recollection of his mother and two of his siblings due to Mr.Sturgis selling them to pay off his debt. The world referred to Mr.Sturgis as a “good and humane” master but Allen did not see it that way. At 20 years old Allen was freed and he went to Pennslyvania and began preaching.

The next person I got the chance to learn more about was Harriet Jacobs. She was a jack of all trades; a former slave, an abolitionist, and a published author. 

Most former slaves that you learn about are aware of their position in slavery from a young age but not Jacobs. 

She did not learn she was a slave until the age of six and even then she did not fully understand what it meant to be a slave. Her mistress and master treated her family with care and even taught her how to read and write.

Further down the line, her new master Dr.Flint began to harass her sexually. She feared that her innocence was going to be robbed from her so she decided to give herself to a man named Mr.Sands before Dr.Flint took it upon himself to rob her of her innocence. In 1835 she escaped Dr.Flint, she lived in her grandmother’s attic for 7 years. In 1842, she gained the courage to finally flee up north and when she was up north she wrote anonymous letters to the New York Tribune before she wrote her biography.
Harriet was born a slave and died a free woman. 

Then we heard from Frances Ellen Watkins. She was a poet who used her pen as a weapon. One quote that she had that was very impactful was that the issue of slavery was a moral cancer eating away the soul of our country.

The last person I would like to touch on is Araminta Ross; to many, she is known as Harriet Tubman. Having a free dad and an enslaved mother Harriet and her 8 siblings were born into slavery and were even rented out to be a child caregiver at the ripe age of eight years old. 

Upon learning that she was about to be sold due to some form of debt that her master was in Harriet ran away. Her sibling was with her on her journey but ran back in fear of being caught.

Along her journey, she suffered from sleeping spells that made her fall asleep at any given moment. This only fueled Tubman’s fire, she took her spells as signs from God to continue to free slaves resulting in her becoming “Moses”. 

She was known as the black Moses by free and enslaved people due to her making 19 trips to free about 300 enslaved people. 

She was married twice and even had an adopted daughter. 

This town hall meeting was very informative. It was interesting learning about anti-slavery activists, especially being introduced to new ones that I had never heard about. As an African American it was eye-opening hearing how big of an impact that white and black abolitionists had on shaping life as we know it today.