Читать книгу Benjamin Drew. The Refugee. Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada онлайн

36 страница из 90

Prior to writing A North-Side View of Slavery: The Refugee, or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada, Drew had been in contact with the literary world by means of his participation with a group of writers at The Shade and also because he became the editor of a humor magazine, The Carpet Bag, which had contributors as well-known as Miles O’Really, Artemus Ward or Mark Twain. However, his abolitionist drive took over his journalist exercise and prompted him to take action and travel to the north in order to counteract Adam’s infamous portrayal of slaves. Although some of Adam’s assertions had been heard before, his position as a Boston minister caused a commotion in antebellum antislavery circles. Drew revolved against Adam’s defense of support reconciliation and his belief in the masters’ generous paternalism over their slaves.

Drew was not the only one who aimed at responding to Adam’s racist collection. William Lloyd Garrison took the chance to reprint in The Liberator a sheer critique that had already appeared in the Christian Examiner, one of the most well-known magazines that supported the antislavery movement, though fully opposed to Garrison’s fanatic abolitionism. Besides, the very same year in which A South-Side View was published, George Fitzhugh’s Sociology for the South; or the Failure of Free Society came to light with the same racist views that also sparked the anger of abolitionists. To make matters worse, in that same year, a runaway slave named Anthony Burns was captured and finally convicted under the premises of the Fugitive Slave Law. The atmosphere was getting more and more disturbing, and it definitely seemed convincing that “if the observations of Adams and Fitzhugh gained increase acceptance, then slavery, supported by congressional compromise and armed force, might indeed become further entrenched” (Edelstein xv). Drew needed no other impulse and proceeded to depart for Canada willing to reveal the true side of fugitive slaves.