America’s black temperance movement, 1827–1894: charting a forgotten history

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historians have characterized the nineteenth-century American temperance movement as one induced by white evangelicals eager to safeguard national prosperity. Often framed as a means through which to control racial and religious minorities, the role of Black Americans as agents of temperance has been largely overlooked. This essay departs from the white-centric narrative by examining the Black American perception of abstinence from alcohol. It delineates the multifaceted evolution of Black temperance to reveal the ardent promotion of the movement by Black men and women alike. In doing so, this work simultaneously challenges the prevailing discourse on the temperance movement as a white-led, and Black activism as male-dominated.