American Studies Guest Lecture: Prof. Ford Risley, "Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery"

Prof. Ford Risley, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Communications at Penn State University, will give a guest lecture titled, “Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery.” Abolitionist newspapers played an essential role in opposing slavery in the decades before the Civil War. Some 40 newspapers were founded with the goal of promoting emancipation of the more than three million slaves in the United States. At a time when most mainstream publications either supported slavery or ignored the subject, abolitionist newspapers were an unmistakable voice of outrage. They provided an editorial platform for the movement’s leaders, publicized the work of antislavery societies, and spread news about the treatment of Blacks. The abolitionist press helped keep the issue of slavery before the public through the war, when the institution was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment.