| THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Now we've heard how slaves fled, risking life, to the North, All for that chance to go claim their true worth. As the preachers there told, in a spirit most Christian, For a man to own men: 'tis not The Lord's plan! And more Yankee hearts, deeply touched by this plight, Now shouted that freedom is but every man's right! And that human bondage, this vile condition, Is the vice most in need of complete abolition. So with keen and brave souls, they did kick up a storm To improve on their world, to seek true reform. "Let's be rid," they declared, "of this most ancient evil, And truly honor our creed -- that all folks are equal!" And William Lloyd Garrison, one such fiery voice, Did so fearlessly write and make lots of noise, Laying down the drumbeat for such high moral claims, With an end to all slaving his foremost of aims. And Frederick Douglas who told the hard tale of his life, Escaping from bondage and its sorrows and strife. Yes, how it feels to be kept and deprived of your will, With the dreams of one's own either dashed or born-still. And the call to decry that slave labor is heinous Was soon spurred along by a story most famous. Indeed, the movement afoot began quickly to grow As folks took to reading Harriet Beecher Stowe. Whose Uncle Tom's Cabin did so vividly offer The mistreatment of slaves and how they did suffer. And this evil entrenched at the roots of the South Now left among neighbors a foul taste in the mouth. And how rancors did mount, from each night to each day, With eyes and ears turned to what the statesmen would say, As a conscience was stirred in half of this nation To behold a new dawn of human liberation... |
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| Worksheet # 65 |
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