Abolitionist

Abolitionist- This term is used in Zinn's chapter Slavery Without Sumbission, Emancipation Without Freedom in the book A People's History of the united States on pp. 134-138. It is someone who wants the system of slavery abolished. At first glance, the term seems simple, but the there is more to it. An abolitionist isn't necessarily sympathetic with the black cause, some are outright racists themselves. On p. 132 he describes that some white people only helped blacks in order to reduce in the wealth of the white elites. On p. 137 he describes how black abolitionists who had been freed were not given their own voice over the white abolitonists, and this hsows the racism that persisted even in abolitionist circles.