William Ellery Channing
In later years Channing addressed the topic of slavery, although he was never an ardent abolitionist. Channing wrote a book in 1835, entitled, "SLAVERY" James Munroe and Company, publisher. Channing, however, has been described as a "romantic racist" in "Black Abolitionism: A Quest for Human Dignity" by Beverly Eileen Mitchell (133–38). He held a common American belief about the inferiority of African people and slaves and held a belief that once freed, Africans would need overseers. The overseers (largely former slave masters) were necessary because the slaves would lapse into laziness. Furthermore, he did not join the abolitionist movement because he did not agree with their way of conducting themselves, and he felt that voluntary associations limited a person's autonomy. Therefore, he often chose to remain separate from organizations and reform movements. This middle position characterized his attitude about most questions, although his eloquence and strong influence on the religious world incurred the enmity of many extremists. Channing had an enormous influence over the religious (and social) life of New England, and America, in the nineteenth century. Towards the end of his life Channing embraced immediate abolitionism. His evolving view of abolitionism was fostered by the success of British abolition in the British West Indies in 1834 and the lack of the expected social and economic upheaval in the post-emancipated Caribbean. Channing wrote extensively about the emerging new national literature of the United States. He wrote that national literature is "the expression of a nation's mind in writing" and "the concentration of intellect for the purpose of spreading itself abroad and multiplying its energy." Death[edit] Grave of William Ellery Channing at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts Channing died in Old Bennington, Vermont, where a cenotaph is placed in his memory. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.