Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Reynolds introduces the next major historical figure in his narrative: abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. He came to prominence as an editor after he delivered a radical abolitionist address at a meeting of the American Colonization Society in 1829. Although he initially favored gradual emancipation, Garrison eventually advocated for immediate emancipation, primarily through his Liberator newspaper. According to Reynolds, The Liberator “relaunched the abolitionist movement among White people” (87). A growing commitment to immediate emancipation did not, however, equate to a demand for immediate equality. Again, Reynolds illustrates that mainstream ideas about abolition were not necessarily antiracist.

Garrison began a prolific publishing career and helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society. That entity distributed thousands of pamphlets in what Reynolds describes as a “social media before social media” (88) approach. This decisive action came as pushback from enslaved people and fear among enslavers mounted. For example, Nat Turner’s “massive crusade, an uprising that would free slaves” (88) successfully killed enslavers across Virginia in 1831 before authorities arrested him and sentenced him to death by hanging. As slaveholders “tightened the yoke,” Garrison “began flooding the market with new and improved abolitionist information” (88).