This illustrated juvenile alphabet book by Unitarian minister Abel Thomas is unsparing in its depiction of slavery. It includes an image and verse for each letter, with prose lines written in response to the defenders of slavery. “W stands for woman,” and the explicatory prose below the verse speaks to the selling of children from their mothers. The Gospel of Slavery is one of only two anti-slavery alphabets published during the antebellum period. The other, The Anti-Slavery Alphabet by Hannah Townsend (1847), is also in the collection. This copy is in its
original wrappers.
Citation:
Thomas, Abel C. [Iron Gray, pseud.], The Gospel of Slavery: A Primer of Freedom, New York: Published by T. W. Strong, [1864], Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed March 20, 2023, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4171
