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Difficulty: MediumBlack Abolitionism and Anti-Slavery Activism

Read the excerpt from a lecture delivered by Maria W. Stewart at Franklin Hall in Boston on September 21, 1832, and answer the following question:

'I have heard it asserted that we are a lazy, idle, and unproductive race. I turn to history, and find that we were once a noble and a majestic people... Why sit ye here and die? If we say we will go to a foreign land, the same enemy has been there before us... if we sit still here, we die also. ... What if we are a silly people? What if we are a lazy, idle, and unproductive race? Who has made us so? Is it not the cruel oppressor that has crushed our energies, and bound our hands and feet?'

Which of the following statements best describes the central argument Maria W. Stewart presents in this excerpt?

  1. Stewart argues that the socioeconomic condition of African Americans is the direct result of systemic oppression rather than any inherent racial inferiority.Answer
  2. B
    Stewart advocates for immediate emigration and colonization to West Africa as the most practical strategy for achieving self-determination.
  3. C
    Stewart encourages enslaved workers in the South to adopt covert labor slowdowns and everyday resistance to bankrupt their owners.
  4. D
    Stewart calls on free African Americans to establish autonomous maroon communities in remote territories to escape racial hostility.

Answer

Stewart argues that the socioeconomic condition of African Americans is the direct result of systemic oppression rather than any inherent racial inferiority.
The correct answer is correct because Maria W. Stewart directly attributes the struggles of African Americans to the destructive force of systemic oppression ('Is it not the cruel oppressor that has crushed our energies...'). By doing so, she refutes racist claims of natural inferiority, arguing instead that oppression is the source of social degradation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical context and the speaker's main thesis in the text.
Identify that Maria W. Stewart is addressing free Black Americans in Boston in 1832, challenging accusations of racial inferiority and questioning emigration.
Establishes a baseline understanding of the text's audience, speaker, and historical timeframe.
2
Examine the specific rhetorical moves made by Stewart in the excerpt.
Note that she rejects emigration ('the same enemy has been there before us') and explicitly points to 'the cruel oppressor' as the cause of current conditions ('Who has made us so? Is it not the cruel oppressor...').
Directly maps the text's claims to the options to identify the correct core argument.

Key Concept

Black Abolitionism and Anti-Slavery Activism
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Topics

Black Abolitionism and Anti-Slavery Activism

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