Digital Snapshots
The Anti-Slavery Alphabet
This “Digital Snapshot” Exhibit features pages from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) The Anti-Slavery Alphabet digitized collection.
Quakers Hannah and Mary Townsend created The Anti-Slavery Alphabet for the Anti-Slavery Fair held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1846. Its sale raised funds to support abolitionist efforts in which the Townsends were involved. They hoped it would be used in households to inspire young boys and girls to understand the horrors of slavery and to think of ways that they, even as children and regardless of gender, could fight against it.
This program is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Mississippi Humanities Council.
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ASA History
Read a contextual essay and access secondary sources.
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Snapshot Exhibit
Browse a "Snapshot" of pages from the full Anti-Slavery Alphabet collection.
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Educator Resources
Access K-12 activities based on images in this Snapshot.
Cite images according to the following structure:
Original Creator, “Title,” Unique Resource Identifier, Series Number and Title, Archival Repository, image URL.
Example:
Townsend, Hannah and Mary Townsend, “Letters M and N, Front and Back; 1846,” 97245-book-20 and 97245-book-21, Series 306.362/A629: The Anti-Slavery Alphabet, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, www.dh-mdah.org/asa-letters-m-n.
Suggested bibliographic citation format for items in this exhibit: