“We Have Always Regarded the Question of Slavery, as Really and Essentially That of Labor”: The Intersection of Race, Class, and Slavery in Radical Antebellum Boston

In the years before the Civil War, Boston was at the forefront of numerous American radical and reform movements. At the same time, the city was also a site of contestation over which reforms should take priority. Although these tensions could at times grow heated, this talk examines the ways that the relationship between the abolitionist and the early labor (or “social reform”) movements in Boston was marked by conversation and cooperation as much as competition, revealing an overlap of personnel and ideas that in many ways grew stronger as the country headed towards an irrepressible conflict over slavery.”  

Please note, this is an online event held on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive an email with links to join the program.