Having looked at the classic slave narratives, students choose to either present some of the many voices involved in the American Abolitionist Movement, or to use original texts/voices to describe perspectives or omissions to the “(his)story” of this aspect of the American experience.

After exploring some texts by women authors both free and slave, we ask "How free are our religious freedoms?" Students find a text (poem, short story, or journal article) from the time period PRIOR TO 1850 written by someone who is NOT Christian illustrates what it is like to live in the US as a non-Christian.

This collection is one of five collections of (mostly) primary texts that were gathered for use in Introduction to American Literature I (Beginnings to 1850). Collections are separated by the themes under study in that course: “Land of Many Nations,” “Land of God,” “Land of the Free, Home of the Slave,” “land of Industry,” and “Land, Lots of Land.” The material is primarily from the Smithsonian museums and libraries and the Library of Congress. These collections were assembled over the 2020-2021 academic year with the support of a sabbatical and a generous Smithsonian Fellowship in Museum Practice through the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access. Specific gratitude for extensive assistance goes to the Smithsonian Transcription Center, Museum of African American History and Culture, the US Postal Museum, the Asian Studies Collection, and the American Philosophical Society.