Robin Sluzas,
Chicago, IL
I am a senior citizen. As a new college junior, I took a History of Radicalism class at the University of Illinois at Chicago not having any idea what to expect. From the moment I read Felix’s pre-Revolutionary War, Petition for Freedom, submitted to the Massachusetts General Court on January 6, 1773 requesting that slavery be abolished, my re-learning of US history began. I learned that the communication of enslaved persons’ radical abolitionist movement during the Revolutionary War era, through the US Civil War to secondary abolitionist groups, those groups who joined enslaved African Americans in the communication for emancipation to the rest of the world, was a crucial component in the abolishment of slavery in the US. Communication from all parties took many forms including but not limited to physical, artistic, written and spoken word expression. These forms of communication from enslaved and free black persons were a radical statement for human rights that places them at the vanguard of the abolitionist movement. I am richer for knowing this.
