Portland Public Library

Slavery and the making of America, WNET New York ; series producer, Dante J. James, vol. 3

eng

videorecording

MPAA rating: Not rated

Slavery and the making of America

57964933

WNET New York ; series producer, Dante J. James

60

Episode 3. One by one the Northern states, led by Vermont in 1777, adopted laws to abolish and phase out slavery. Simultaneously, slavery in the Southern United States entered the period of its greatest expansion. Episode three, which starts at the beginning of the 1800s, examines slavery's increasing divisiveness in America as the nation develops westward and cotton replaces tobacco as the country's most valuable crop. The episode weaves national events through the personal histories of two African American slaves -- Harriet Jacobs and Louis Hughes -- who not only managed to escape bondage, but also exposed the horrific realities of the slave experience in autobiographical narratives. These and other stories of physical, psychological, and sexual exploitation fed the fires of a reinvigorated abolitionist movement. With a diverse membership comprised of men and women, blacks and whites, and led by figures including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Amy Post, abolitionist sentiment gathered strength in the North, contributing to the widening fissure and imminent break-up of the nation

v. 1. The downward spiral -- v. 2. Liberty in the air -- v. 3. Seeds of destruction -- v. 4. The challenge of freedom

live action

Seeds of destruction