abolitionist
Anti-slavery crusader
An abolitionist is someone who advocates for abolishing an institution or practice, most commonly slavery.
The term is strongly associated with the 19th-century movement to end slavery in the United States and British Empire: Frederick Douglass was a leading abolitionist.
In contemporary use, abolitionists may advocate ending prisons, the death penalty, or other systems they consider unjust.
Formal freeing of enslaved
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- liberationRelease from constraint
- antislaveryOpposing human bondage
- proclamationFormal public announcement
fugitive · escape · sanctuary · safe house · conductor · station · bondage · chains
Covert abolitionist escape network
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
- John BrownRadical antislavery insurrectionist
- QuakersPacifist Protestant denomination
- AmistadHistoric maritime captive revolt
Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Nat Turner · Dred Scott · Fugitive Slave Act · Thirteenth Amendment · Antebellum · Civil War
Zealous advocate for change
- advocatePublic cause supporter
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- agitatorOne who foments discord
- radicalRoot-indicating symbol
pioneer · organizer · champion · lobbyist · petitioner · orator · pamphleteer · lecturer
Fair treatment under law
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- humanityPeople as a whole
- compassionConcern for others' distress
dignity · equality · integrity · virtue · ethics · benevolence · morality · principled
manumission
Formal freeing of enslaved
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- liberationRelease from constraint
- antislaveryOpposing human bondage
proclamation · fugitive · escape · sanctuary · safe house · conductor · station · bondage · chains · shackles
Underground Railroad
Covert abolitionist escape network
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
- John BrownRadical antislavery insurrectionist
- QuakersPacifist Protestant denomination
Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Nat Turner · Amistad · Dred Scott · Fugitive Slave Act · Thirteenth Amendment · Antebellum · Civil War · Emancipation Proclamation
crusader
Zealous advocate for change
- advocatePublic cause supporter
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- agitatorOne who foments discord
radical · pioneer · organizer · champion · lobbyist · petitioner · orator · pamphleteer · lecturer · firebrand
justice
Fair treatment under law
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- humanityPeople as a whole
compassion · dignity · equality · integrity · virtue · ethics · benevolence · morality · principled · natural rights
- Civil War Slangskedaddle, Johnny Reb, bluebelly, grayback, copperhead
- activistsactivist, Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activists, protester, campaigner
- advocatesadvocate, activist, campaigner, crusader, defender
- changemakersactivist, advocate, reformer, revolutionary, pioneer
- AbolitionistsFrederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown
- collective actionunite, join forces, team up, mobilization, movement
abolitionistslaveholder
Owner of enslaved persons
slave owner · Confederate · slave trader · secessionist · slave catcher
abolitionistreactionary
Anti-progress political stance
traditionalist · conservative · oppressor · segregationist · supremacist
- abolitionist movementCampaign to end slavery
- abolitionist societiesOrganizations opposing human enslavement