Jeffrey Brooke Allen, "The Racial Thought of White North Carolina Opponents of Slavery, 1789-1876" (1982)

Jeffrey Brooke Allen examined the viewpoints of North Carolina white opponents of slavery from Antebellum to Reconstruction. Through a variety of primanry sources, Allen concluded that many white absolitionists beleived that all Blacks were inferior in almost every way. He singled out, among other antislavery North Carolinians, one Hinton Rowan Helper, who Allen describes as not only one of the greatest opponents of the institution of slavery, but a staunch racist.

The author gave powerful testimony that even organizations dedicated to the eradication of slavery openly stated that Blacks were inheritantly inferior. Among those organizations were the Manumission Society of North Carolina, the American Colonization Society, and even the Society of Friends (Quakers). Some of their claims were that Blacks should be sent back to Africa where they were more suited to the climate and that abolition would lead to race mixing. There was also a fear of violence, because Blacks were incapable of taking care of themselves and would act out in frustration.

Allen, Jeffrey Brooke. "Racial Thought of White North Carolina Opponents of Slavery, 1789-1876," North Carolina Historical Review 59, no. 1 (January 1982): 49-66.