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Michaël Roy, Young Abolitionists: Children of the Antislavery Movement

New York: New York University Press, 2024, 264 p. ISBN: 978-1-47983-009-1. $40
Gérard HUGUES
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Michaël Roy, Young Abolitionists: Children of the Antislavery Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2024, 264 p. ISBN: 978-1-47983-009-1. $40

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1This rich volume written by Michaël Roy is defined by its author as an attempt to fill in a gap in the historiography of the United States abolitionist cause. The subject has been a focus of attention among American historians and the volume’s extensive bibliography (214-235), containing an impressive list of primary sources, is there to demonstrate it. Michaël Roy’s aim is to discuss juvenile abolitionism as an original movement in which children were involved, independently of the influence of adults, even though the author acknowledges that many children were initially encouraged to embrace the abolitionist cause in the domestic or scholastic sphere, under the tutelage of their parents or teachers. African-American youth is at the center of the study, but the importance and efficacy of young white people is also acknowledged. The center of Roy’s attention is on children between two and fifteen, even though he admits that he sometimes failed to determine the ages of some of the minors who were active in the promotion of abolition. The book effectively retraces the history of abolitionism since the emergence of the thirteen colonies, arguing that the Puritan approach gave way to the principles of the Enlightenment and the theory of natural rights, placing children closer to the innocence of a Lockean state of nature, thus making them more likely to adopt the guiding values of the antislavery cause. Mention is made of the case of Jefferson, with its ambiguities, since he pleaded for the end of slavery while maintaining a large slave community at Monticello, grounding his support for abolitionism in gradualist rather than “immediatist” approaches.

2The book is clearly and convincingly organized around five major themes: the origins of juvenile abolitionism, its literature, the strategic organization designed to maximize its influence and impact on the population, the role of education in the classroom and the antislavery cause within the domestic sphere. To account for the rise of juvenile abolitionism, the case of Frederick Douglass is cited to exemplify the crucial role of enslaved children in the fight to end lifelong bondage. Free Black children were equally active in promoting the cause and many examples are provided of their effective actions, like the emergence of the Cold Water Army, illustrated by an image of their procession consisting exclusively of boys, while the girls look on from their windows (23). Their rationale is a perfect example of the close connections that can be established between the temperance movement of the period and the antislavery campaign: slavery was viewed as a sin to be eradicated by virtuous citizens who pledged to keep away from all intoxicating liquors, a message likely to meet the endorsement of young children not yet vitiated by the corrupt practices of the adult world.The campaign was orchestrated by means of an abundant literature aimed at younger generations who would find cogent arguments to question the existence of slavery and deduce that it was a crime requiring immediate abrogation. Curiously, antislavery juvenile literature originated in Britain before being exported to the other side of the Atlantic where it impacted the conscience of the younger ones. Among those involved in the movement were of course the Quakers whose attachment to the education of children was instrumental in promoting the antislavery cause from a very early age. Several stimulating pages are devoted to the Slave’s Friend, a magazine for children founded in 1835, only four years after Garrison’s Liberator, and whose impact was highly significant.

3Young Abolitionists proceeds to discuss the crucial role of juvenile antislavery societies, taking their cue from those aimed at adults, adopting a very similar rationale that promoted temperance, honesty and moral values as a way of furthering their cause among other children more likely to embrace the principles of the Declaration of Independence and its basic assumption that “All men are created equal.” Most fascinating is the list of antislavery societies that arose in different parts of the Union, to the obvious exclusion of the South. The book gives a clear and thorough account of the actions promoted by these societies, as well as by prominent advocates of the cause like Henry Clarke Wright who described the antislavery cause as a God-inspired crusade to eradicate the curse of slavey from the United States. At a time when “immediatism” was not construed as a feasible and relevant option, many trusted that those multifarious societies would irrigate the minds of the American people, children and adults alike.

4In his fourth chapter, Michaël Roy turns to the crucial issue of the debate over slavery in the education system, noting that schools might not initially have seemed congenial places for the exchange of views. Even in the North, the topic was inflammatory to the point where teachers would avoid broaching it with their students. The great merit of the book is to introduce the reader into the antebellum classroom with relevant examples of teachers who discussed the institution with their African-American students, going as far back as Quaker Anthony Benezet, a trailblazer in Black education. The case of Black scholar John E. Burr is amply examined. The text specifically highlights a key address Burr made to an audience, among whom Garrison who was impressed by his oratory talent. Particularly pertinent is the passage about the “Perils of abolitionism” (133), as Black education was seen as a threat to the existing order by both the white supremacists in the South and the conservatives in the free states, which amounted to a non-negligible force of resistance. The case of a Black child kidnapped by his master in the schoolroom epitomizes the rift in American public opinion, owing to the astounding effect it had across the nation. A survey of the schoolbooks containing abolitionist propaganda is also extremely valuable to appraise the radical clash that emerged on this specific issue between North and South. White supremacists spared no pains to denounce the contents of textbooks deemed to be too supportive of abolitionism.

5Abolitionism was also a family affair and the last chapter discusses the way it was transmitted in family circles. William Loyd Garrison educated his five children in the strict observance of the abolitionist cause, going so far as to name four of them after famous US and British abolitionists and inviting them, after his death, to continue to wield the torch of abolitionism as he had done his entire life. The Douglass parents were animated by the same ambition of turning their children into full-fledged abolition supporters, taking an active part in the making of The Frederick Douglass’ Paper or helping runaway slaves reach Canada on the Underground Railroad. And yet, as Michaël Roy points out, the teachings of parents did not always permeate their children’s minds once they had reached adulthood. George Garrison differed from his father, dismissing his strategy of “Moral suasion,” implying non-resistance, to advocate a more radical approach to abolitionism. Likewise, Garrison’s son Wendell clashed with his father who rebuked him for joining the weekly Nation owned by a man who was miles away from the abolitionist movement. The Douglass family was not immune to analogous tensions arising between father and children.

6With its elegantly written prose, its comprehensive bibliography and index, its well-chosen illustrations and rich notes, this volume not only fully deserves the tributes of the scholarly community as it definitely breaks new ground in the study of abolitionism Roy’s book is also highly recommended reading for wider audiences.

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Gérard HUGUES, « Michaël Roy, Young Abolitionists: Children of the Antislavery Movement »e-Rea [En ligne], 22.2 | 2025, mis en ligne le 15 juin 2025, consulté le 19 juillet 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/erea/19864 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/144qr

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Gérard HUGUES

Aix-Marseille Université, LERMA, Aix-en-Provence, France

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