Activity 3: Nonviolent Resistance to Slavery
Activity time: 15 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Handout 2, Adin Ballou and Christian Non-Resistance
- Leader Resource 4, Adin Ballou, Portrait
- Optional: Computer and digital projector
Preparation for Activity
- Review Handout 2. Make copies for participants.
- Prepare to project Leader Resource 4 or print a copy.
- Optional: Read Ballou's essay, "The Superiority of Moral over Political Power."
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 2, Adin Ballou and Christian Non-Resistance. Invite participants to read the handout to themselves, or have volunteers read it aloud. Engage participants in discussion, using these questions as a guide:
- How does Ballou's more gradual, non-violent approach to ending slavery contrast with Parker's approach of calling for violent action? If Ballou and Parker were alive today, which one would you support? Why?
- Ballou and the Hopedale community represented a parallel voice for social justice. The group was marginalized within the anti-slavery movement because of their commitment to pacifism. Do you think that social justice movements should be able to support a multiplicity of tactics? Or is the sort of conflict that took place between Ballou and other abolitionists inevitable?
Allow ten minutes for large group conversation.