John Mercer Langston, an acclaimed black abolitionist and civil rights campaigner, journeyed throughout the South, and where he went he brought new and hopeful words that spurred the march of progress. He travelled through dangerous towns where men went uniformly armed and quiet villages which needed to be stirred up and in every place he got by without police or private protection, but rather on the strength of his character. <br><br>As the son of a white plantation owner and his mulatto mistress, Langston presented himself as unifying force for black and white communities, conciliatory and savage by expertly judged turns. He spoke not only to black crowds but to ecstatic mixed audiences. In all his work he made clear that he asked nothing for the black community that he did not believe was due all men, and he raised support and interest for his cause diligently. Langston’s manner fits his education, somewhere between a fiery preacher and a precise and serious lawyer, gaining on his opponents’ point with every sentence. <br><br>In one of his most moving lectures, contained in full within, Langston said <br>‘The antislavery movement, like other great movements whose aim has been the good of mankind, has not been the result of passion, has not been the invention of distempered genius. It ?nds its origin in the wants, the necessities of man; and its principles of love and mercy, of bene?cence and good-will have their home in the bosom of God’.<br><br>The lectures contained in Freedom and Citizenship are part of his ardent campaign for better lives and enfranchisement for America’s black population. We in our more modern age are privileged to be able to turn to it for its originality, its contribution to black history and its ever relevant message of unified community.