Review of `William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers'--Conclusion

(Following book review first appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of the Lower East Side alternative weekly, Downtown. See below for parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.)

By the 1850s, despite William Lloyd Garrison's continued editorship of the Liberator, “Wendell Phillips, not Garrison, emerged as the real leader of New England abolition” because Garrison’s “continuous emphasis on abolition as a moral crusade—and nothing else—seemed old-fashioned and impractical,” according to Russel Nye’s William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers book. Most other abolitionists now worked to end slavery by either mobilizing behind the mid-19th century Republican Party or third party groups—or by supporting people like John Brown, who were willing to use violence in defense of freed slaves who were being victimized by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Garrison, himself, however, only supported the end, not the means, of John Brown’s 1859 attack on the Harper’s Ferry arsenal, for example.

Unlike younger abolitionists such as Wendell Phillips, after the goal of legal emancipation was finally achieved during the Civil War, Garrison did not agitate on behalf of either a post-Civil War Reconstruction policy which guaranteed democratic rights and economic freedom for the former slaves in the South or on behalf of labor emancipation in the North; and he stopped publishing and editing the Liberator in 1865.

As an introduction to a 19th-Century abolitionist journalist who has generally been forgotten in recent years, Nye’s book might be a good first choice. And if Hollywood eventually gets around to producing a movie version which shows how Garrison’s newsweekly (for at most 2,500 subscribers) affected U.S. history, Nye’s book would provide good background material. (end of book review)

(Downtown 11/9/94)

`Free Leonard Peltier!'

chorus)

In Lewisburg, he's in a cage
His human rights, denied each day

(verses)

They've kept him locked up for so many years
His trial was so unfair
The evidence shows he's innocent
Free Leonard Peltier!

The F.B.I., the Bureau of Lies
They framed him, it's so clear
They sought revenge for A.I.M.'s revolt
Free Leonard Peltier!

A Freedom Fighter who did become
A political prisoner
The media pretends he don't exist
Free Leonard Peltier!

Like Geronimo Pratt and Mumia
His spirit is what they fear
But more revolt is in the air
Free Leonard Peltier!

Hypocrisy now rules the land
Injustice is everywhere
Without protest, they'll let him rot
Free Leonard Peltier!

What kind of men will steal a life
So they can keep all power?
Under their flag they wrap evil
Free Leonard Peltier!

To listen to the "Free Leonard Peltier!" protest folk song, you can go to the music site at the following link:

http://www.myspace.com/bobafeldman68music


July 1, 2009 marks the 32nd anniversary of Leonard Peltier's sentencing to two consecutive life terms, after being found guilty of two counts of "first degree murder" on the basis of fabricated evidence and coerced testimony. This protest folk song was written in the 1990s.

Leonard Peltier has served over thirty-two years in prison and is long overdue for parole. But the Democratic Obama Administration, in 2009, has still not released him.

Review of `William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers'--Part 4

(Following book review first appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of the Lower East Side alternative weekly, Downtown. See below for parts 1, 2 and 3.)

By 1833, Garrison’s Liberator had 1,400 subscribers and his journalistic prominence enabled him to become a leading figure in the worldwide antislavery movement. Within the abolitionist movement, some objected to the invective and belligerent tone of Garrison’s writing. But he continued to lead the wing of the abolitionist movement which favored immediate emancipation and no forced colonization of the freed slaves, but did not favor trying to end slavery either through political action or violent resistance to the slave masters. Garrison’s wing of the abolitionist movement favored “no union with the slaveholders” during the pre-Civil War period and the Liberator was used to emphasize both Garrison’s strand of abolitionism and his support for democratic reforms like women’s suffrage.

William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers author Nye’s brief treatment of Garrison’s friendship and subsequent political split with the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass illustrates one of the major weaknesses of this 1955-published book. As Nye notes, because Douglass, in the 1840s, “wanted to found a newspaper devoted to political action” which fought against slavery in the electoral arena, “coolness developed” between him and Garrison. Although most African-American historians agree that Frederick Douglass was as historically significant a figure in U.S. abolitionist journalism history as Garrison, however, Nye’s book fails to summarize in any detail the particular arguments which Douglass used to justify his split with Garrison. This reflects Nye’s tendency throughout the book to treat the oppressed people who subscribed to Garrison’s Liberator, or on whose behalf Garrison sought to work, as voiceless background figures in his life. Nye’s book also only briefly discusses Garrison’s relationship to his wife of many years and doesn’t describe in detail enough the nature of Garrison’s relationship to the 19th Century feminist movement, despite Garrison’s sympathy for this movement. (end of part 4)

(Downtown 11/9/94)

Review of `William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers'--Part 3

(Following book review first appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of the Lower East Side alternative weekly, Downtown. See below for parts 1 and 2.)

Although Garrison was white, William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers author Russel Nye points out that “from the beginning the free Negro formed the core of the Liberator’s financial support, and until the day of his death its editor remained a Negro idol, nearly an object of worship.” The few hundred free African-Americans who subscribed to the Liberator in the early part of 1831 were apparently attracted by Garrison’s editorial support for the immediate, not the gradual, abolition of slavery and Garrison’s opposition to those abolitionists who believed that following their emancipation the ex-slaves of the South should be sent back to Africa to establish colonies like Liberia—instead of being integrated into U.S. society as equals. Yet, despite the support of predominantly African-American subscribers in Boston, Philadelphia and New York, “the early issues of the Liberator caused no great stir in Boston, or elsewhere” and “`his paper was received,’ Garrison said, with `suspicion and apathy,’ and he found it hard to pay rent…”

What enabled Garrison to turn the Liberator into a financially viable, although still low-circulation, weekly--and transformed both Garrison and his newspaper into nationally prominent symbols of militant abolitionism—was the August 1831 slave revolt which Nat Turner led—in which 52 whites were killed. Following the suppression of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion and the post-revolt lynching of over 120 slaves by the Southern planters, Garrison and his newspaper—which had only started publishing less than nine months before the rebellion—were apparently blamed by the Southern press for this 1831 slave revolt. As Nye notes:

“Turner was led, wrote the Tarborough, North Carolina Free Press, by `an incendiary paper, the Liberator, published in either Boston or Philadelphia by a white man, with the avowed purpose of exciting rebellion in the South.’ One by one Southern newspapers picked up the charge until the South was filled with clamor against Garrison.”

Paradoxically, as Nye also notes, “Garrison, by his own admission, had not a single subscriber south of the Potomac,’ and no Southern agents.”

Yet, because Garrison “did exchange with some 100 Southern editors, following contemporary journalist practice” and “Garrison’s prose lent itself admirably to juicy quotations,” the Southern press conveyed “the impression that Garrison represented a far larger influence in Northern antislavery circles than he did” and “the obscure reformer, toiling in a barren Boston loft, suddenly emerged as arch-symbol of antislavery extremism.”

As a result, “invitations to lecture” for Garrison “came in” from throughout the North, “particularly from Negro groups, and the Liberator’s fortunes improved” because “the attacks emanating from the South,” made Garrison appear to be “the outstanding figure in New England antislavery circles.” Ironically, despite his notorious media image in the South as being “the abolitionist who instigated the Nat Turner revolt,” Nye observes that “the fact was that Garrison was a nonresistant pacifist, opposed to violence in any form” who “had publicly censured David Walker’s incendiary pamphlet, An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” in 1829. (end of part 3)

(Downtown 11/9/94)

Update on Military Coup In Honduras

Following is text of the update alert on what's been happening in Honduras that was posted on the www.rightsaction.org site on June 28, 2009 at 6 p.m.:

( For more information, CONTACT: In Guatemala, Annie Bird (Rights Action co-director), annie@rightsaction.org, 011-502-5005-1530; in North America, Grahame Russell (Rights Action co-director), 1-860-751-4285, info@rightsaction.org]

DESPITE THE MILITARY COUP
THE HONDURAN PEOPLE ARE DEFENDING THEIR DEMOCRACY
THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM POLL CONTINUES

Democracy in Honduras was violated by a military coup this morning, but the people of Honduras have come to the defense constitutional order and democracy in Honduras.
Though the President was forced into exile in Costa Rica, the goal of stopping the public opinion poll has not been successful.

Civil society leaders report that more then 25,000 Honduras are protesting in front of the National Palace in support of the president, despite reports that the entry and exits to some towns have been blocked by the military to prevent public protests.
Though it is reported that in some areas the ballot boxes have been captured by the military, promoters of the poll have establish mobile polling stations to defend the ballot boxes. The military has not been able to occupy all of the country, and some towns have declared that they will not recognize the authority of the military imposed government.

Though the President of the Congress, Roberto Michelletti, read a letter of resignation allegedly signed by President Zelaya and his cabinet, Zelaya from Costa Rica has denied signing the letter, as have his cabinet members.
The Congress the proceeded to name Roberto Michelletti, a strong opponent of Zelaya, as president de facto.

Governments around the world, particularly in Latin America, have declared that they will not recognize any not elected by the population of Honduras.

The Chancellor of Honduras, Patricia Rodas, has been kidnapped by the military, in front of member of the diplomatic corps, and the ambassadors of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua were kidnapped with her but later released. The whereabouts of Patricia Rodas are unknown.

* * *
CONTACT YOUR OWN MEDIA, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, SENATORS, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, TO DEMAND:

•a return of the constitutional government

•no recognition, whatsoever, of this military coup and the Congressional appointed ‘de facto’ government of Roberto Michelletti

•respect for safety and human rights of all Hondurans

FUNDS ARE NEEDED FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND LEGAL DEFENSE WORK. Make tax deductible donations to Rights Action and mail to:
UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
CANADA: 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm
To get on/ off Rights Action's email list: http://www.rightsaction.org/lists/?p=subscribe&id=3/
Please re-distribute this info all around.

Review of `William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers'--Part 2

(Following book review first appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of the Lower East Side alternative weekly, Downtown. See below for part 1.)

The son of a sailing master, Garrison was born in 1805. In 1808, however, his father, Abijah Garrison, deserted Garrison’s family and his mother, Frances Lloyd Garrison, was compelled to work as a domestic while Garrison was sometimes sent out to beg on the streets. The local Baptist Church deacon, however, later arranged for the Newburyport Herald semi-weekly newspaper publisher to take the 10-year-old Garrison on as a printer’s apprentice for seven years; and it was there that Garrison learned the technical skills required to later put out the Liberator and became acquainted with the world of books and ideas. During his long apprenticeship, however, Garrison continued to spend his spare time in the church, not in the saloon, and Nye notes that “perhaps the only trait that set young Garrison apart from his fellow apprentices was his piety.”

At the age of 17, Garrison started writing essays, under a pen name, for the Newburyport Herald, where he continued to work after his apprenticeship. During the five years between the time Garrison stopped working for the Newburyport Herald and the time he started editing and publishing the Liberator, Garrison borrowed money from the Newburyport Herald and attempted to publish his own newspaper, moved to Boston in 1827 to work as a printer when this first publishing venture failed, and also edited a number of reform publications.

But Nye notes that the turning point in Garrison’s life came in March 1828, when the then-23-year-old printer-editor met Benjamin Lundy, the antislavery reformer, who took rooms for a few nights at the same Collier’s boarding house in Boston in which Garrison lived. As a result of his acquaintance with Lundy, Garrison became more deeply involved in the abolitionist cause and made the initial contacts which enabled him to fund the first issue of the Liberator, which began publication on Jan. 1, 1831. (end of part 2)

(Downtown 11/9/94)

Review of `William Lloyd Garrison and The Humanitarian Reformers'--Part 1

(Following book review first appeared in the November 9, 1994 issue of the Lower East Side alternative weekly, Downtown.)

In pre-Civil War journalism history, William Lloyd Garrison’s weekly abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, played a significant role. Penny press newspapers like James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald, had much larger circulations than Garrison’s Liberator, yet because Garrison utilized his newspaper and his journalistic skills to confront the nation’s greatest pre-Civil War moral issue—the continued enslavement of African-American people—his ultimate positive historical impact probably proved to be greater than Bennett’s.

William Lloyd Garrison and the Humanitarian Reformers by Russel B. Nye (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1955) describes the life of the militant abolitionist, from his economically humble beginnings in Newburyport, Massachusetts, through his early life in poverty, his work as a printer’s apprentice as a teenager and his pre-Liberator journalistic activity, on to the post-1831 years, when his editorship of the Liberator made him a prominent national figure.

Nye sees Garrison’s life and his Liberator newspaper as one more reflection of the spirit of humanitarian reform which attempted to perfect U.S. society, which Nye feels was a major characteristic of many of the people who lived in the United States during the 19th Century. In Nye’s view, the humanitarian reform impulse, which led Garrison to devote most of his life to the cause of abolitionism, as well as other human rights issues, flowed out of his strong religious faith:

“The central fact of Garrison’s life was his religious faith. The Bible was the only book he ever really read and his abolitionism itself spread directly from his belief that slavery violated God’s law.” (end of part 1)

(Downtown 11/9/94)