The Evangelical War Against Slavery and Caste

Book excerpt: This book is a biography of John G. Fee, who was a product of the Great Awakening of the early nineteenth century, the economies of the small slave-holding farm, and the intimacies and comradeship of black and white children. Born in Bracken County, Kentucky, in 1816, Fee is a unique figure in the antislavery movement. Most abolitionists were northern born, but they were assisted and supported by many antislavery men who left the South and worked against slavery from the northern states. Both groups addressed themselves to the problem of slavery from the security of the North, but Fee was born in the South and chose to live there and work against the peculiar institution from within its stronghold. He became the most important and influential reformer to wage war against slavery in the South during the nineteenth century and ultimately had the longest career in race relations, extending into the twentieth century. --From publisher's description.