There was a clear connection between the abolitionist movement and the feminist movement. The Seneca Falls Convention arose when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pictured above, and other women attending abolitionist meetings in London were refused the right to speak. It makes good sense, therefore to move from looking at feminist issues to considering key texts from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. We begin by looking at two pieces which frame the argument. Abraham Lincoln's Peoria speech clearly shows that in Lincoln's mind, at least, issues of slavery and racial equality were separable. The Gettysburg Address, with its echoes of the Declaration of Independence, never mentions the slavery issue, but redirects American attention to the grand vision of equality for all men. The documents surrounding Plessy v. Ferguson attempt to provide a version of equality based on separation.
The button will take you to one of Martin Luther King's most famous public utterances, the "I Have a Dream" speech. Clicking on Dr. King's picture will bring you to a website where you can hear excerpts from that speech.
Clicking on the image of Chief Justice Earl Warren to the left will take you to a site with his biography.
Leah Ward Sears, born in 1955, is a Justice on the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia. The work of Martin Luther King and many like him in all but fame provided new opportunities for black Americans. Judge Sears brings to her work a desire to provide "fairness" for her people. Hear her describe her philosophy and its application by clicking on her portrait to the left. You'll also hear her read one of her favorite poems. You'll need to have a multimedia computer with Real Player installed to hear this. If you don't have Real Player, you can download it for free from the Real Player Home Page. Click on the icon to the left.
Week of Monday though Friday, April 30 - May 4, 2001
Read, in Idea of Democracy,
#18, Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, pp. 71-74
#20, Speech at Peoria, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 89-90
#21, Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 91-92
The convention was the brainchild of 32-year-old Elizabeth Cady Stanton, daughter of Margaret and Judge Daniel Cady and wife of Henry Stanton, a noted abolitionist politician. Born in Johnstown, New York, Cady Stanton demonstrated both an intellectual bent and a rebellious spirit from an early age. Exposed to her father's law books as well as his conservative views on women, she objected openly to the legal and educational disadvantages under which women of her day labored. In 1840 she provoked her father by marrying Stanton, a handsome, liberal reformer and further defied convention by deliberately omitting the word "obey" from her wedding vows.
Thus begins Constance Rydner's article on the Seneca falls confention found on The History Net. Click on Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Picture to be taken to the article.
The announcement of an upcoming "Woman's Rights Convention" in the Seneca County Courier was small, but it attracted Charlotte Woodward's attention. On the morning of July 19, 1848, the 19-year-old glove maker drove in a horse-drawn wagon to the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in the upstate New York town of Seneca Falls. To her surprise, Woodward found dozens of other women and a group of men waiting to enter the chapel, all of them as eager as she to learn what a discussion of "the social, civil, and religious rights of women" might produce.
Read, in Idea of Democracy, # 25, Brown v. Board of Education, pp. 114-115
Also available in Idea of Democracy, #28, pp. 120-133
The Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education reverses the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, and began the end of legal segregation in the United States. The decision was written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, former Governor of California who was appointed to the court by President Dwight Eisenhower.
The Letter from a Birmingham Jail is proof of the legacy of Henry David Thoreau's views on Civil Disobedience. It also extends Thoreau's theory by introducing the concept of non-violence. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., explores the creative uses of protest. You will need to examine his philosophy of "non-violence," and how "non-violent" differs from "peaceful". You'll also want to consider why King defends deliberately raising tensions in a community. Click on the link above, and download the letter. Bring it with you to class.
The Reverend James Reeb, killed during the March to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of the Federal Voting Rights Act, was honored by the Reverend Martin Luther King in ceremonies in Selma, Alabama. Click on the picture to the right to visit a website devoted to the March on Montgomery.
President Clinton paid a visit to ceremonies commemorating the 35th anniversary of the March and the Federal Voting Rights Act in 2000. Information about his visit and his speech in Selma can be found at this website.
There was a clear connection between the abolitionist movement and the feminist movement. The Seneca Falls Convention arose when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pictured above, and other women attending abolitionist meetings in London were refused the right to speak. It makes good sense, therefore to move from looking at feminist issues to considering key texts from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. We begin by looking at two pieces which frame the argument. Abraham Lincoln's Peoria speech clearly shows that in Lincoln's mind, at least, issues of slavery and racial equality were separable. The Gettysburg Address, with its echoes of the Declaration of Independence, never mentions the slavery issue, but redirects American attention to the grand vision of equality for all men. The documents surrounding Plessy v. Ferguson attempt to provide a version of equality based on separation. 
