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Seeking Zero-Tolerance of Slavery: The Abolitionism Movement

The trans-Atlantic slave trade introduced a system of slavery that was commercialized, racialized and inherited, according to The New York Times Magazine. Africans were not thought of as human beings but fuel for the country’s economic engine. Fast-forward 400 years, most Americans still know little about the story of slavery. Even fewer understand that not all white people were proslavery, but abolitionists: people who sought to abolish slavery during the 19th century and the immediate and full emancipation of all enslaved people.

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Noted abolitionists of the 19th century. Top row, left to right: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. Bottom row, left to tight: Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Willian Lloyd Garrison. Wikipedia image.
Noted abolitionists of the 19th century. Top row, left to right: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. Bottom row, left to tight: Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Willian Lloyd Garrison. Wikipedia image.

By Tamara Shiloh

The year was 1619. A Portuguese slave ship, the São João Bautista, made its way across the Atlantic Ocean filled with human cargo: captive Africans from Angola. All were bound for a life of enslavement in Mexico. But the ship was captured by two English pirate ships and the Africans were instead taken to Point Comfort, a port near Jamestown, the capital of the English colony of Virginia.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade introduced a system of slavery that was commercialized, racialized and inherited, according to The New York Times Magazine. Africans were not thought of as human beings but fuel for the country’s economic engine.

Fast-forward 400 years, most Americans still know little about the story of slavery. Even fewer understand that not all white people were proslavery, but abolitionists: people who sought to abolish slavery during the 19th century and the immediate and full emancipation of all enslaved people. The abolitionist movement, an organized effort to end the practice of slavery in the U.S., started in New York and Massachusetts during the 1830s and quickly spread throughout other northern states.

Many abolitionists were white, religious Americans like Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Willian Lloyd Garrison. Some of the most prominent leaders of the movement, however, were Blacks who escaped from bondage: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Their goal was to abolish slavery completely. Yet other groups, such as the Free Soil Party, only opposed the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories and newly formed states such as Kansas.

Abolitionists viewed slavery as an “abomination and an affliction on the United States, making it their goal to eradicate slave ownership.” They sent petitions to Congress, ran for political office and inundated Southerners with antislavery literature.

Early leadership (1830–1870) duplicated tactics used by British abolitionists to end slavery in 1830s Great Britain and its colonies. Abolitionism, despite its religious underpinnings, became a controversial issue that divided much of the country, sparking heated debates and deadly confrontations that opened doors to the Civil War.

Throughout this chapter of American history, the South denied free, escaped and enslaved Blacks access to education. Abolitionists, however, believed in the practice of educational freedom for all people.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) established before the Civil War include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (1837), Lincoln University (1854) and Wilberforce University (1856). Although many Southern HBCUs were founded in the years following the war, the roots of these efforts to educate Blacks began in the northern abolitionist schools during the slave era.

“Abolitionists worked to challenge and dismantle white supremacy in schools by eliminating zero-tolerance policies in favor of restorative justice, integrating students’ cultural and community knowledge into curriculum,” said UC Riverside professor Tara J. Yasso.

The abolitionist movement continued until 1865, when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and slavery was formally abolished. Many historians argue that it lasted until the 1870 passage of the 15th Amendment, which extended voting rights to Black men.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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