Free-produce movement
The Free-produce movement was a movement that started as a non-violent way to oppose slavery. The abolitionist movement used it as a non-violent way for individuals, including the disenfranchised, to fight slavery.[1]
In this context, free signifies "not enslaved" (i.e. "having the legal and political rights of a citizen"[2]). It does not mean "without cost". Similarly, "produce" does not mean just fruits and vegetables, but a wide variety of products made by slaves, including clothing, dry goods, shoes, soaps, ice cream, and candy.[3]
Lack of success[change | change source]
The free produce movement was not a success. Many abandoned it after a few years. Non-slave products were more expensive and sometimes hard to find. At times, it faced high tariffs blocking imports. In some cases the origin of the goods could not be determined. Sometimes the non-slave goods were of poorer quality; one storeowner "not infrequently received sugar 'with a very disagreeable taste and odor' and rice that was 'very poor, dark and dirty.'"[4] Benefits to slaves or reduction in demand for slave-produced goods was very small. Many abolitionists ignored the issue altogether.[5] Though William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, initially proclaimed at a convention in 1840 that his wool suit was made without slave labor,[6] he later examined the results of the movement and criticized it as impossible to enforce,[7] ineffective, and a distraction from more important tasks.[8] The national association disbanded in 1847, but Quakers in Philadelphia continued until 1856.[8]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Holcomb, Julie L.; Holcomb, Julie (2016-08-23). Moral Commerce: Quakers and the Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5208-6. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1d2dmqk.
- ↑ Merriam Webster Online. Free. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
- ↑ Glickman, Lawrence B. (December 2004). "'Buy for the Sake of the Slave': Abolitionism and the Origins of American Consumer Activism". American Quarterly. 56 (4): 889–912. doi:10.1353/aq.2004.0056. ISSN 1080-6490. S2CID 143192356.
- ↑ Glickman, Lawrence B. (2004). "'Buy for the Sake of the Slave': Abolitionism and the Origins of American Consumer Activism". American Quarterly. 56 (4): 891. doi:10.1353/aq.2004.0056. S2CID 143192356 – via Project MUSE].
- ↑ Quarles, Benjamin (1969). Black Abolitionists. Oxford University Press. p. 74. OCLC 740959879.
- ↑ National Park Service. Women's Rights. Quaker Influence. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
- ↑ Holcomb, Julie. "Blood-Stained Goods: The Transatlantic Boycott of Slave Labor". The Ultimate History Project. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Hinks, Peter and McKivigan, John, editors. Williams, R. Owen, assistant editor. Encyclopedia of antislavery and abolition, Greenwood Press, 2007, pp. 266–268. ISBN 0-313-33142-1