Description
Book SynopsisExamination of the complexity of the colonization movement, describing the difference between those who supported colonization for political and social reasons and those who supported it for religious and humanitarian reasons
Trade ReviewColonization and Its Discontents is an interesting and useful contribution to the ever-growing historiography of nineteenth-century American antislavery movements. -- Erica Armstrong Dunbar * Pennsylvania Magazine of History of Biography *
An enlightening examination of the role of colonization in the state and national controversies over slavery, abolition, and civil rights in antebellum America. -- Nicholas Wood * Pennsylvania History *
Beverly C. Tomek offers an interesting analysis of antislavery movements in Pennsylvania, starting with the development of the opposition to slavery among Friends then focusing more intensely on the Pennsylvania Colonization Society and its relationships with other antislavery organizations during the early nineteenth century. -- Jean R. Soderlund * Historian *
In texturing this story, Tomek has made a thoughtful contribution to colonization scholarship. -- Joanne Pope Melish * Journal of Social History *
The payoff of such organization is a series of richly detailed vignettes that illustrate the complexity of their thinking. And it is the complex and overlapping nature of these ideologies that Tomek adeptly utilizes to problematize standard narratives of antislavery thought. Tomek's argument that gradualists and colonizationists shared a commitment to gradual emancipation, working within the law, and social control over blacks is a significant contribution that challenges our understanding of what 'antislavery' should mean. Additionally, the recognition of the diversity within the colonization movement and reevaluation of its political, economic, and humanitarian wings are strengths of the book. This is a much-needed addition to the growing body of scholarship dedicated to the nineteenth-century colonization movement. -- Robert Murray * The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society *
Tomek's book constitutes an important contribution to the history of the nineteenth-century antislavery movement. -- Friederike Baer * American Historical Review *
Colonization and Its Discontentsis a well-researched and welcome reexamination of a movement that defies easy definition. * Journal of American History *
This is a much-needed addition to the growing body of scholarship dedicated to the nineteenth-century colonization movement. * The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society *
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsList of Abbreviations Prologue Introduction 1 "Many negroes in these parts may prove prejudissial several wayes to us and our posteraty"2 "A certain simple grandeur ... which awakens the benevolent heart"3 "Calculated to remove the evils, and increase the happiness of society"4 "We here mean literally what we say"5 "They will never become a people until they come out from amongst the white people"6 "A thorough abolitionist could not be such without being a colonizationist"7 "Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts, and work of our own hands"8 "Maybe the Devil has got to come out of these people before we will have peace"Epilogue Notes Index About the Author
