Abolitionists
from Shirley and Conner Go Way Back Hosted by Lennie Shirley and John Conner
Episode 8: The Abolitionists Long before the first shots of the Civil War, a small but determined group of Americans was fighting to end slavery, and they weren’t willing to wait. This week, Mrs. Shirley and Mr. Connor dig into the abolitionist movement: who joined it, what they risked, and how a cause supported by only a fraction of the country helped change its course. We start with the people who resisted slavery from the very beginning: enslaved men and women who broke tools, slowed their work, escaped, and even used music to pass messages. Then we follow the stories of Harriet Tubman, who made repeated trips south on the Underground Railroad and later led a military raid during the Civil War, and Frederick Douglass, whose advice President Lincoln came to value. You’ll also hear lesser-known stories, like Henry “Box” Brown, who mailed himself to freedom in a wooden crate, and Lewis Hayden, who faced down slave catchers at his Boston door with a lit candle and barrels of gunpowder. Along the way, we cover the Fugitive Slave Act, the violence of “Bleeding Kansas,” John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and the road to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. Plus: a run-in with a restaurant door, Sweet Caroline at Fenway, and a strong disagreement about the movie Lincoln. Grab a cup of whatever keeps you going, and let’s go way back.
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