Making Slavery History: Abolitionism and the Politics of Memory in Massachusetts
Margot Minardi
Abstract
This book examines how practices of commemoration and arguments about history informed early American debates over slavery and citizenship. The setting is a time and place in which people were hyperconscious of their role as historical actors and narrators: Massachusetts in the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Drawing on a rich and varied source base, the narrative traces how historical memory was implicated in three different forms of emancipation: the construction of a “free” national identity; the abolitionist movement against chattel slavery; and the fight for full ... More
This book examines how practices of commemoration and arguments about history informed early American debates over slavery and citizenship. The setting is a time and place in which people were hyperconscious of their role as historical actors and narrators: Massachusetts in the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Drawing on a rich and varied source base, the narrative traces how historical memory was implicated in three different forms of emancipation: the construction of a “free” national identity; the abolitionist movement against chattel slavery; and the fight for full citizenship for people of color. Harnessing these political causes to Bay Staters' understanding of their local history — especially the legacies of the American Revolution — was crucial to the success of each of them. In moving from the particular context of early national Massachusetts toward a broader consideration of the politics of memory in American history, this book shows that historical narratives are not merely reflections of their political and social context but also interventions into the power struggles of their moment.
Keywords:
commemoration,
history,
slavery,
citizenship,
Massachusetts,
American Revolution,
memory,
abolitionist,
people of color
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195379372 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379372.001.0001 |
