American Anti-Slavery Almanac

Original cover for the 1843 edition, compiled by Lydia Maria Child.

The American Anti-Slavery Almanac was published yearly from 1836 to 1843 by the American Anti-Slavery Society, as one of the Society's efforts to raise awareness of the realities of slavery in nineteenth century America.[1] The yearly almanac compiled calendars and astronomical data with anti-slavery literature, art, and advertisements.[2] in a small, neat pamphlet. For instance, the 1843 edition included works from authors such as William Lloyd Garrison and Thomas Moore as well as accounts of recent slave rebellions and quotes from political speeches supporting the abolition of slavery.[3] The almanac did not call for uprising or violence, but rather served as a means to spread the word about the anti-slavery cause.[4][5][6][7][8]

Editions

The almanac had different editors and publishers under the American Anti-Slavery society depending on the edition and the publication location. The authors were part of the American Anti-Slavery Society, such as Lydia Maria Child, an abolitionist and women's rights advocate who served on the American Anti-Slavery society board during the 1840s and 1850s. Child compiled the American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1843, which includes a page on the National Anti-Slavery Standard, a publication she also edited. Other authors include Isaac Knapp (1838, Boston)[9] and S. W Benedict (1842, Boston).[10]

Graphic from the Almanac, 1840.

1836

Published in Boston, Massachusetts. Published by "Webster & Southard".[11]

1837

Published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Published by the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society[12]

1838

Published in Boston, Massachusetts. Published by Isaac Knapp,[9] who partnered with William Lloyd Garrison to publish the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper.

1839

Published in New York, New York and Boston, Massachusetts. Published by Isaac Knapp and S.W. Benedict.[13]

1840

Published in New York, New York and Boston, Massachusetts. Published by American Anti-Slavery Society.[14]

1842

Published in Boston, Massachusetts. Published by S.W. Benedict.[10]

1843

Published in New York, New York. Published (compiled) by Lydia Maria Child.[3]

Publishing

The almanac was published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, who also published the weekly newspaper, the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Some of the publication locations include New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.[3] There was also a 1837 edition published in Cincinnati, Ohio.[12]

References

  1. ^ "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1838". The Public Domain Review. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  2. ^ "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1837". AAS Catalog Record. 1837. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  3. ^ a b c Child, Lydia Maria (1843). American Anti-Slavery Almanac. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society.
  4. ^ "American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839, pp. 13, 15. | The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition". glc.yale.edu. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  5. ^ Goddu, Teresa A. (2020). Selling Anti-Slavery: Abolition and Mass Media in Antebellum America. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 32, 50. ISBN 978-0-8122-5199-9.
  6. ^ "Anti-Slavery Almanacs". Anti-Slavery Almanacs. University of Virginia.
  7. ^ Goddu, Teresa A. “The Antislavery Almanac and the Discourse of Numeracy.” Book History, vol. 12, 2009, pp. 129–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40930542. Accessed 22 Jun. 2022.
  8. ^ Goddu, Teresa (July 28, 2020). "Circulating the Facts of Slavery". Lapham's Quarterly. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  9. ^ a b "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1838". The Public Domain Review. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  10. ^ a b "American Anti-Slavery Almanac Vol. II, No. I". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  11. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(still image) An emancipated family, (1936)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  12. ^ a b "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1837". AAS Catalog Record. 1837. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  13. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(still image) What has the North to do with slavery ?, (1839)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  14. ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(still image) The slave steps out of the slave-state, and his chains fall. A free state, with another chain, stands ready to re-enslave him., (1840)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
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