Quakers settled the Carolina Colony in the 1650s, bringing enslaved people and servants with them. Industrious coastal Quakers soon rose to prominence on the backs of their enslaved men and women, and Piedmont Quaker lives were enriched by the people they enslaved. Sparked by John Woolman's observations, the Carolina Quakers took up the fight against slavery in the 1700s, beginning with themselves. Legal conflicts, the Free Negro program, colonization, the North Carolina Manumission Society, and the Underground Railroad were the results. Combining North Carolina slave narratives, runaway slave ads, digital archives, local histories, and internet blogs, author J. Timothy Allen recreates the inspiring story of Tar Heel Quakers who fought each other and the state to abolish enslavement in antebellum North Carolina. The author will be available after the presentation to sign copies of his new book, Quakers and the Enslaved in North Carolina.
This lecture is available in person and virtually via Zoom.