A Simple Tennessee Preacher Transformed Abolitionism from a Deeply Unpopular Radical Movement to a Centrist Cause

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sitting high above the small community of Ripley, Ohio, a lantern shone in the front window of a small, red brick home at night. It was a signal to slaves just across the Ohio River. Anyone fleeing bondage could look to Reverend John Rankin’s home for hope. To the slaveholders they fled from, Rankin’s activities as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad invoked rage. Mobs often pelted Rankin with eggs and rocks, bounties were placed on his head, and midnight assassins lurked in the darkness, waiting for the right opportunity to take out the “Father of Abolitionism.” Despite frequent threats, he remained committed to the freedom of his fellow man.

Today’s guest is Caleb Franz, author of The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism's Essential Founding Father, we look at the story of the man who served as a George Washington–type figure to the antislavery movement. Rankin’s leadership brought unity and clarity to the often factious abolitionists of the nineteenth century. William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and countless others found inspiration in his teachings. He also presented abolitionism as a moderate movement, helping to make it palpable to Southern centrists who considered most abolitionists Yankee radicals who wanted to watch America descend into a Haitian-style race war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of the History Employed podcast.
0:07.9	Reverend John Rankin was a Presbyterian pastor of a small congregation in Tennessee in the early
0:12.7	1800s. He was an understated individual and never gathered huge crowds, like other famous
0:18.5	orators of his day would, such as Charles Finney,
0:20.9	who helped kick off the Second Great Awakening. But he believed in the cause of abolitionism,
0:24.8	which led to a lot of friction with his congregation, since Tennessee was a slave state,
0:28.4	causing him to flee across the Ohio River, where he became part of the Underground Railroad,
0:32.2	and at night which Shina Lancered, on the front window of his red brick home to signal the slaves that they could flee to his homestead.
0:42.0	Later on, he published a number of letters about the cause of abolitionism that were written to his brother, who purchased a slave, deconstructing the arguments for slavery based on reason,
0:46.9	the Bible, and practical ethics. From here, he vaulted to the national stage of the abolitionist
0:51.8	movement and was called by many as the father of abolitionism.
0:54.9	If that's the case, why isn't he remembered today? And is there a reason he isn't remembered?
0:59.5	To explore his story, we're joined by today's guest, Caleb Franz, author of The Conductor,
1:03.6	the story of Reverend John Rankin, abolitionism's essential founding father. We look at the story of a man
1:08.2	who served as a George Washington-type figure to the anti-slavery movement and how he energized it when it reached its low point in the 1820s,
1:15.2	when many people in America, especially in the South, thought of the abolitionist movement as a
1:19.1	bunch of Yankee radicals who wanted to destroy the Constitution, throw the United States
1:23.0	into a massive Haitian-style slave revolt, and were a bunch of religious heretics, being Unitarians or non-Trinitarian Christians. We see how Rankin brought abolitionism into the mainstream,
1:32.6	his influence leading up to and past the Civil War, and other aspects of his life that
1:36.3	have been largely forgotten. Hope we enjoy this discussion with Caleb France.
1:42.1	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for a word from our sponsors.
1:46.9	Caring for someone with dementia is one of the toughest journeys, but you don't have to do it alone.
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