author

Alfred M. Green

A forceful Black abolitionist voice in Civil War-era Philadelphia, he is remembered for urging African Americans to claim both citizenship and military service when the Union first refused their enlistment. His surviving work captures a moment when the fight for freedom and the fight for belonging were tightly linked.

1 Audiobook

Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments, and the Duty of the Colored People in Regard to the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion, in the United States of America

Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments, and the Duty of the Colored People in Regard to the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion, in the United States of America

by Alfred M. Green

About the author

Alfred M. Green was an African American abolitionist and speaker active in Philadelphia during the Civil War era. He is best known for Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments, a collection connected to his 1861 appeal for Black men to organize and press for the right to serve in the Union cause.

The surviving record shows Green speaking at a crucial moment, early in the war, when African Americans were not yet accepted into Union ranks. His writing argues that military service, patriotism, and equal rights belonged together, and it helped express a broader demand for citizenship and dignity.

Some biographical details about his life are hard to confirm from the sources I found, so it is safest to remember him through his public work: a persuasive antislavery voice whose words remain part of the historical record of Black activism in the United States.