Frederick Douglass and William Garrison by Morretta Alison;

Frederick Douglass and William Garrison by Morretta Alison;

Author:Morretta, Alison;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing LLC
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00


Anti-abolitionists in the North often published handbills, such as this one, which published details about local antislavery meetings and urged people to cause trouble.

That infamous foreign scoundrel [George] Thompson will hold forth this afternoon at The Liberator office, No. 48, Washington Street. The present is a fair opportunity for friends of the Union to snake Thompson out! It will be a contest between the Abolitionists and the friends of the Union. A purse of $100 has been raised by a number of patriotic citizens to reward the individual who shall first lay violent hands on Thompson.

This was just adding fuel to the fire already burning in Boston. There were already violent riots and lootings going on in the area of Boston with a high number of black residents. When Garrison spoke out against this violence, the mob put a gallows (a structure used to hang criminals) in front of his home as a symbolic threat of lynching.

On October 21, 1835, a group of citizens showed up at the meeting hall, but Thompson was not there. Garrison was, and he attempted to escape the mob by sneaking out the back of the hall. He was captured and dragged through the streets and the editor was forced to spend the night in jail for his own safety.

Douglass also experienced mob brutality throughout his career as a lecturer. While on the “One Hundred Conventions” tour in 1843, he was attacked at an outdoor meeting in Pendleton, Indiana. During the fight, Douglass’s hand was broken and he was knocked unconscious. In 1847, Douglass was attacked again in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, while on tour with Garrison, who described the incident in a letter to his wife, Helen. He told her that “mischief was brewing and an explosion would ultimately follow” and that when Douglass tried to speak, “the spirit of rowdyism began to show itself outside of the building.” No black person had ever spoken publically in Harrisburg, and “it was regarded by the mob as an act of unparalleled audacity.”



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