Between the voices of our ancestors: Afrocentric strategies, symbols, forms of revolution, and the philosophical implications of the rhetorical discourse of abolitionist Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879)

This study proceeds from the premise that since abolitionist Maria W. Stewart was the first American woman to present a public lecture of a political nature to a mixed audience; the understanding of the African American female experience would be deepened by the study of her influence upon collective solidarity in the African American community. Her role as an abolitionist lecturer discredits the distorted Eurocentric historical approach to scholarship, which proposes a subordinate role for African American women in the nineteenth century. Stewart emerged to prominence in an era when there were few opportunities available for women outside of the relegated duties of the home. As an African American abolitionist whose discourse defied the dictates of an unjust society, Maria Stewart deserves a place among the pivotal figures in American history.;By recording the social conditions of the 1830s, when African American female activism developed, this Afrocentric research explores the motivation for Stewart's emergence in the anti-enslavement lecture circuit and proclaims the centrality of the African American female influence upon the social, political, and cultural transformations in her community. Although Stewart's public career exhibits the limitations placed upon the aspirations of African Americans and women, she offers alternatives and other avenues of resistance against oppression.;This study investigates the span of Stewart's public lecturing and teaching career. The theme and style of Stewart's lectures combined cultural images and symbols which were epitomized in the militant discourse of David Walker, Nat Turner, and Henry Highland Garnett. The central focus of her abolitionist contribution illustrates a diversified approach to rebellion which offered the African Americans a new vision of the future. Despite criticisms, Stewart remained steadfast in assuming her role as an abolitionist lecturer. Her lectures raised social consciousness of oppression as she affirmed the African sense of humanity in nineteenth-century America. Ultimately, Maria W. Stewart's strong sense of self as an African extended the ancestral forces of the African mother in her community and established her as a source of wisdom and guidance in the African American community during the nineteenth century.