The main strength of this somewhat uneven collection is that it deepens our understanding of the specifically religious dimensions of the genesis of the antislavery movement, an important social movement whose impressive growth, in the long run, led to the eradication of the long-entrenched institution of slavery in the Atlantic world. The book makes this contribution by bringing to light neglected aspects of Quakers’ foundational work that prepared the ground for such a consequential mobilisation.
The contribution is set against the background of a canonical body of works that typically oscillates between crediting Evangelicals (and not Quakers) as the main social carriers of abolitionism and dismissing religious factors altogether. Quakers somehow fell through the cracks of this historiography, sometimes caricatured into unwitting conduits of a purely economic capitalist forces. This misreading was fuelled by a state of knowledge that this collection seeks to redress: a general ignorance among generalists of the organisational dynamics of Quakerism and of the strategically self-effacing strategies of Quakers who sought more ‘respectable’ outside allies in order to create the impression of a cross-denominational movement and fend off accusations of religious and political fractionalism. Assembling the work of historians fluent in the organisational and intellectual history of Quakerism, this collection restores Quakers to their central role in the configuration of the transnational movement for the abolition of slavery.
The reconfiguration of historiographic proportions and priorities is signalled by the tenor of the first and last chapters in the book. The opening chapter is a typically strong piece by Gary Nash on Warner Mifflin, one of the ‘lesser’ Quaker abolitionists who have not received the attention that they deserve, while the final chapter constitutes a thoughtful and qualified reinterpretation of the important yet rather limited abolitionist contribution of the much more recognisable Benjamin Franklin by Louisiane Feller. The message is clear: if we want to understand the trajectory of abolitionism more attention to forgotten figures like Mifflin and a sober recalibration of the importance of historiographical celebrities like Franklin is needed.
The chapters in-between are of various quality (and at least one of them may fall short of the minimum standards for publishable research). Jon Kershner and July Holcomb make a strong case in their respective contributions for the importance of a religiously-motivated radical platform of economic justice that undergirded the Quaker beginnings of abolitionism. Their arguments forcefully contradict the common historiographic wisdom that mistook Quaker commitment to non-violent activism for political quietism and compromising support for the societal status quo. James Gigantino's discussion of the vicious attacks on Quakers working for manumission of the enslaved and the abolition of slavery lends further support to the importance of the underappreciated radical militancy and plain civic courage that early abolitionists espoused.
These strong chapters reveal hitherto neglected or misunderstood personalities, processes and events in the early history of North America. Students of antislavery and of colonial and early republic religion will find a lot to learn from the book. In addition, those interested in the gender dimensions of slavery and antislavery will read with interests the chapters by Julie Winch and Geoffrey Plank, even if the latter's discussion of Sarah Woolman is rather sobering when one realises how detached the long-suffering wife was from the abolitionist husband's apostolic obsession with the eradication of slavery.
The rest of the contributions may not surprise or impress much: they either repeat material presented elsewhere or relate to individuals who remained at a distance from abolitionism. Fortunately, however, they form a negligible portion of the volume. The majority of the chapters do say something new and interesting. In this way, the collection deepens our understanding of a crucial formative period in the abolitionist movement. Directed at a general audience of historians and scholars of religion it will help the student of abolitionism to see even more clearly and in intriguingly finer details the Quaker contribution to the movement's formation.
