35-stars were on the Union flag during the Civil War.

Rethinking Racism: Part 5, Emancipation … and Betrayal

Critical race theory … Whoopi Goldberg suspended for comments about Jews and race … once again we are arguing about racism … welcome to the fifth in an eight-part series on how we understand America’s original sin. The series will be published on eight successive days. In Part 5 we track the rise of the abolitionist movement through the Civil War, the effort to grant full civil rights to freed slaves during Reconstruction, and the hostile reaction by white southerners which led to a century of legal discrimination and segregation.

Fortunately, opposition to slavery emerged shortly after it was introduced into the colonies. Notable among those opposing the practice was the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as the Quakers. At a meeting in Germantown in 1688, a group of Pennsylvania Quakers formally petitioned the colony — founded in 1682 — to abolish slavery. Quakers were also instrumental in establishing the first abolitionist organization, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage on April 14, 1775 (later known simply as the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society).

The first phase of the abolitionist movement (1688–1820) consisted of sporadic activities by a variety of different groups with no specific agenda or plan. Some sought immediate freedom for all enslaved persons, while others…