The “compromise” attempted to answer the question of whether the Missouri territory would be admitted to the Union as a “slave” or “free” state. Supplied by JSTOR.

Black-authored print was central to James G. Birney’s conversion from enslaver to abolitionist and presidential candidate. Supplied by JSTOR.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a Fourth of July speech that became his most famous public oration. Supplied by JSTOR.

Adopted in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution addresses citizenship rights, due process, and equal protection under the law.