FINAL 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

FINAL 2 - Assignment Example 1838 saw Pennington officiate at the wedding of Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray. In the 1840s and 1850s, Pennington preached under congregational African churches in New York, which ended up giving him international recognition as an antislavery orator, as well as a civil rights activist (Alexander & Walter 500). In addition to his numerous sermons as well as speeches, Pennington in 1841 authored what is thought to have been one of first textbooks on African American history, The History, and Origin of the Colored People. Pennington’s autobiographical account was then published under the title The Fugitive Blacksmith in 1849. James Pennington died in 1870 and was aged 63. Pennington in his memoir The Fugitive Blacksmith uses his life account to condemn the act of slavery; with involvements with the Abolitionist movement. He traces his convictions that claim slavery is immoral, and the basis of his argument is on what he saw as a young man on the horrors that were inflicted on his father. While Pennington’s father was tending to shepherd duties, he saw his master come and beat his father mercilessly for something that was trivial and that sight never left Pennington the same again. Sometime after the cruel event that happened to his father, Pennington decided that he did not want to be a slave and opted to find a way to freedom (Alexander & Walter 501). In his quest for freedom, Pennington spent day’s hungry and faced lots of terror on his way northward in order to escape slavery. One moral dilemma Pennington had been he could lay and thus claiming he was free in order to avoid being returned to his masters as he journeyed north. The mor e he lied the more they believed him, and as a result, Pennington found a chance to escape as he continued his journey. On arrival in Pennsylvania Pennington who was starved and exhausted had an encounter with a woman who offered him help with food, clothing, and shelter.