Degree Year

1990

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Advisor(s)

Gary Kornblith

Keywords

Oberlin College, Antislavery, American, Kansas, Slavery, Mission

Abstract

This paper tells the story of four men. They are, by the standards of history, obscure individuals, not nationally known and their names will not be found in the texts on American history. Yet, their lives are important in the on-going attempt to understand the abolitionists' response to slavery.

Samuel Lyle Adair, John Huntington Byrd, Harvey Jones and Horatio N. Norton were tied to a common mission--the defeat of slavery in Kansas. Between 1854 and 1856 all four emigrated to Kansas as missionaries of the American Missionary Association. Upon arrival, they established churches and preached a message of Christian brotherhood to often unsympathetic congregations. The Kansas they encountered was scarred by the struggle over slavery. Harsh frontier living conditions combined with the almost daily sectional violence to create an environment of hardship and struggle. Yet all remained in Kansas and refused to turn away from the struggle for freedom.

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