Abbott, Elena K.

OUR SYNOPSIS: Elena K. Abbott explores how starting in the late eighteenth century, “international free-soil havens” such as Haiti, Sierra Leone, Upper Canada, and more, made possible lived experiences or visions of freedom for African Americans. She argues, “Over time, international free-soil havens developed into practical models of black freedom, offered concrete destinations where free and self-emancipated people could anticipate legal protection and equal standing, and became potent symbols of liberty in the fight against American slavery.” (4) The symbolism and emancipatory potential of these places existed and influenced Black Americans regardless of if they ever experienced enslavement or left the United States. In the case of Upper Canada, Abbott emphasizes that free Black Americans themselves transformed the region into a free-soil haven, demanding “an asylum consonant with their own definition of freedom.” (64) It was their hard work and dedication that created the liberatory possibilities of this place. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made these possibilities increasingly alluring since it substantially restricted the security of freedom in the U.S. North.