Author: Mary Sheldon
Title: Our Duty to the Oppressed
Date: 28 May 1850
Source: Mary Sheldon Papers, Record Group 30/200
Document Type: Handwritten Pamphlet
The following is a transcription of an essay Sheldon wrote in 1850, during her third year at Oberlin College. The essay was handwritten in pamphlet form, most likely in order to be readable in front of the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. Her audience consisted of women close to her age. In this speech, Sheldon insists that white people had a responsibility to elevate African Americans out of slavery. The essay raises two questions in particular. How much agency did she allow slaves in their own liberation? How well did she understand race relations and the people on whose behalf she spoke? Especially noteworthy is her description of the limits and strengths of women’s abolitionist actions in the fourth paragraph. Since the piece was meant to be a speech, she used particular oratory tactics to persuade her audience, especially through emphasis on religion and morality.
Our Duty to the Oppressed
“Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say; if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.”1
As it was in the days of Christ, when he re-proved [sic] the hypocritical Pharisees, so it is now. The Jews had their sacred books, in which were recorded the prophecies, with their fulfillment, now could their inspiration be denied; they therefore contented themselves with building the tombs, and garnishing the sepulchers of the righteous, satisfying their consciences with the lullaby, “if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the flood of the prophets.” Thus it is with us, we lament the wrongs our ancestors committed, in entailing upon our nation the burden and crime of Slavery, yet we content ourselves, with laudations of their good deeds and enterprise; and say “if we had had been among the early settlers of our nation, we would never have allowed a slave to set foot upon our shores; if we had been among the framers of the Constitution, slavery should not have received our sanction, but a withering rebuke; yet we ourselves are witnesses that we are their children, and glory in possessing traits of character similar to theirs.
Our fathers have applied the earnings of the slave, to their own personal aggrandizement. His unrequited toil has contributed to the erection of our national monuments; and thus have we become identified as partakers in this sin. Would we free ourselves from this imputation of hypocrisy? The question then arises how can this be done? I answer one way is, to endeavor to elevate those whom our oppression has degraded and imbruted,2 and aid them in attaining such a moral and intellectual state, as will render them capable of exercising intelligently the rights of free citizens, – of sovereigns in our country. But the question recurs, how is this elevation to be accomplished? The first step seems naturally enough to be the removal of obstructions. These, as all are aware, by reason of the severe and protracted oppression, have become alarminglygreat [sic] so that many pronounce the task impossible, and even the most sanguine consider it Herculean, but Herculean, though it be, the task has been self imposed by the nation, & delay but increases it.
The first obstruction to be removed consists in the mental apathy, which their condition has induced in them. The most effectual motive which could be brought to meet this would be to offer them at once, the hope of [inserted above line: attaining] to any and every office under the government and to every position in society, which their mental culture and moral character render them capable of filling. This result we as females cannot directly accomplish, but we may constantly present the hope of the day of their jubilee being not far distant as an incentive, to urge them to seek that improvement, which will enable them successfully to claim these rights.
Another obstacle, to be overcome in the work of elevation, is the mental disability of the class, a disability which belongs not to the race, but which is the result of a disuse of the Intellect, and the constant presence of brutish motives only, for every act of life. This obstacle can only be met by the most active and energetic efforts to secure the means of improvement to all who may be reached. This may be accomplished by seeing that their children attend our schools, by visiting mothers, and supplying those who can read with books teaching such as cannot, securing the diffusion of the many worthy publications of the day, though furnishing constant mental aliment.3 The mind thus brought into activity will not require the long lapse of years to regain its vigor, which have served to impair it.
Again we continue the wrong already committed, by countenancing the somewhat popular literature of the day, sometimes known as Ethiopian Melodies.4 A volume of this character, fell into my my [sic] hands during the past winter. It had often been a matter of wonder to me, while teaching, where the children could find such songs: until this was discovered. The sentiments had already pervaded the whole school. Hardly a recess occurred, without more or less of these being heard, and as a consequence the children were coming to consider the colored person as an inferior something, whose life was only to furnish amusement to others. One can hardly walk the streets of any city or village without hearing scraps of these songs often from [inserted above line: lips] too young to be aware of the sentiment they sing. These things perpetuate the prejudice already existing. Our influence should therefore be decidedly against, not only this practice, but every other having a similar tendency.
On the other hand the difficulties are often aggravated, by the indulgence of ill founded jealousies and suspicions, on the part of those whom we would elevate, which compels their best friends even, to act from a sense of naked duty, rather than from the unrestrained impulses of a generous heart. Such a spirit, on the part of any one, tends most effectually to close the sympathies of his benefactors, when a thankful spirit would invite the continuance of favors.
All that has been said is not only feasible, but important for us to perform, and the more so, that there are those about us daily, whom we can benefit by some of these methods, and thus, with the divine blessing, shall we be chosen instruments in the work of the redemption of our country.
Mary. May 28th 1850 –
Ladies Anti Slavery Society
Transcribed by Ruby Boyd, Anna Bauman and Joanna Wiley.
1Matthew 23:29-31.
2imbruted: degraded to the level of a brute.
3aliment: that which nourishes the body of an animal or plant; nutriment Ethiopian Melodies: proslavery songs to be performed in blackface shows that incorporated European and Afro-American musical influences. Minstrel shows, the entertainments where songs like this originated, remained popular in the United States for years. (Margo Jefferson, “Beautiful Dreamer,” The New York Times, June 22, 1997. Web address)
4Ethiopian Melodies: proslavery songs to be performed in blackface shows that incorporated European and Afro-American musical influences. Minstrel shows, the entertainments where songs like this originated, remained popular in the United States for years. (Margo Jefferson, “Beautiful Dreamer,” The New York Times, June 22, 1997. Web address)
