call and response- a method of public speaking in which the speaker involves the audience by stating a line and having the audience give a reply. This method of speaking was used in churches and in other public speaking arenas.
caste- a system of classes in which there are defined low, middle and high classes. In these systems it was virtually impossible to change classes from the class into which one was born. Caste systems were popular in Europe.
colonization- a movement during the pre-civil war era to emancipate slaves and send them to Africa to start colonies rather than to keep them in the United States. The theory was developed out of fear of what the country would do with a new, free, potentially dangerous, black class.
domesticity- the role of the woman in the home which was eventually entitled "The cult of domesticity." I was the theory that the woman could have power and influence in society by way of her influence on her children and her husband.
freemen- the group of blacks in both the North and the South who had either been freed by their owner, born into freedom or had purchased their own freedom.
gradual abolition- the view that the abolishment of slavery would have to come with time, ste by step freeing more and more slaves until eventually slavery no longer existed. Many abolitionists held this view.
immediate abolition- the view that the institution of slavery needed to be done away with all at once. It called for immediate emancipation of all slaves.
rural slavery- plantation slavery in which more slaves were owned by one owner. The owner did not play a very active role in the lives of rural slaves due to their large numbers.
slave narrative- abolitionist propaganda material in which runaway slaves told their stories of slave life. The brutality and ihumanity of slavery was exposed to evoke sympathy and move its audience towards abolition.
suffrage- the plea for equality first for blacks and then for women in American society.
urban slavery- a form of slavery in which usually only a few slaves were owned usually by a family The slaveholder played a large role in the life of the slave due to constant contact. Often times the urban slave was treated better than the plantaion slave and given more freedom in their everyday lives.
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