 | |
| Authors | Theodore Dwight Weld,Angelina and Sarah Grimké |
|---|---|
| Original title | American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Slavery and emancipation |
| Published | American Anti-Slavery Society |
| Publication place | United States |
American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses is a book written by the American abolitionistTheodore Dwight Weld, his wifeAngelina Grimké, and her sisterSarah Grimké, which was published in 1839.[1][2]
A key figure in theabolitionist movement, Weld was a white New Englander. His wife, Angelina, and sister-in-law Sarah, were from a Southern slave-owning family;both women were active in the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements. Theodore purchased in bulk from a reading room at theNew York Stock Exchange issues of newspapers being discarded, hundreds if not thousands of them. He took them home toFort Lee, New Jersey, and there the two women analyzed them, in essence running aclipping service, arranging the clippings by topic: diet, clothing, housing, working conditions, and the like. As the book says in its introduction, the Southern newspapers give themselves, especially in advertisements forrunaway slaves, evidence of mistreatment of the enslaved. The book invites those interested to call at the office of the publisher, theAmerican Anti-Slavery Society, to verify its sources. The book also analyzes arguments defending slavery. It was very influential in the formative days of the abolitionist movement.
Harriet Beecher Stowe usedAmerican Slavery as It Is as the direct inspiration for her novel,Uncle Tom's Cabin, which also became very influential in the movement to end slavery. Stowe went so far as to reportedly sleep with the book "under her pillow at night."[3] Within the first year of publication, the book had sold 100,000 copies; it served as a vital combination of testimony from those affected by slavery and advertisements published by slavers themselves.[3] This method proved effective at gaining support forabolitionism, since slave-owners could not dispute their own words no matter how poorly it reflected on their character.
Other works inspired in part byAmerican Slavery as It Is includedWilliam Goodell'sThe American Slave Code in Theory and Practice, andCharles Dickens'American Notes quotes whole ads from Weld and the Grimké sisters' book.[3] As well, "The Grimké Sisters at Work onTheodore Dwight Weld'sAmerican Slavery as It Is (1838)" is a poem by Melissa Range, published in the September 30, 2019, issue ofThe Nation.Frederick Douglass quoted from the book when giving speeches, and said that "not a single fact or statement recorded therein has ever been called in question by a single slave holder."[4]
APBS miniseries,The Abolitionists, using material from the book, aired in 2013.[5]