Section 2: Fighting for Freedom

The abolition of chattel slavery in the United States was a process that relied upon the tireless efforts of anti-slavery advocates, activists, and outraged American citizens. This case presents a snapshot of formats through which enslaved populations and abolitionists alike fought for freedom and demanded emancipation.

For communities who had been forcefully removed from their homes and enslaved on plantations in the Southern United States, music provided a creative outlet to maintain cultural memory in the face of dehumanizing trauma and displacement. In her letter, Civil War nurse Helen Hoyt describes the lyrical hymns and chants sung by fugitive slaves. African spiritual music for worship, recreation, work, and protest became anthems of resistance, often sung on plantations such as the one depicted in this stereoview of a Georgia cotton-picking scene. 

Helen M. Noye Hoyt letter to “Dear Ones at Home,” March 14, 1864; Annapolis, MD. Helen M. Noye Hoyt papers.

“Cotton is King”, stereoview card, New York: Strohmeyer and Wyman, 1895.

“Massachusetts Volunteers: Galop Quick Step,” by William Dressler, New York: Dressler’s Music Store, 1862.

Other abolitionists mobilized literature and photography to fund speaking tours, speeches, and public rallies to draw support for their cause. The formerly enslaved orator and activist Sojourner Truth dictated her autobiography and copyrighted her own image, using the proceeds from both to fund her speaking tours. Photographer Myron H. Kimball produced a series of images of emancipated slave children in New Orleans and sold them in a campaign to raise money for their education. 

“Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa, Slaves from New Orleans,” carte-de-visite, by Myron A. Kimball, [1864]. Weld-Grimké family papers.