Why read Force and Freedom?

Book cover of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence

Book description

From its origins in the 1750s, the white-led American abolitionist movement adhered to principles of "moral suasion" and nonviolent resistance as both religious tenet and political strategy. But by the 1850s, the population of enslaved Americans had increased exponentially, and such legislative efforts as the Fugitive Slave Act and the…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Force and Freedom as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Frank J. Cirillo

Author

This book demonstrates a point that I always try to make to students: the antislavery movement was much more than mass meetings and heroic escapes along the Underground Railroad.

It was far more complex–and, at times, far more violent. Many Black activists in the years before the Civil War turned to the tactics of violence to try and shake a complacent nation into action. They did so in desperation, and only with much anguish–and much controversy.

Jackson's book gets deep into the weeds of how the struggle for antislavery progress actually worked.

From Frank's list on The best books on the long and difficult fight against slavery in America.