Lydia Maria Child’s best-known work was An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans, first published in 1833. Presented here are two excerpts: portions of chapter two, titled “Comparative View of Slavery, in Different Ages and Nations,” and portions of chapter three, titled “Free Labor and Slave Labor—Possibility of Safe Emancipation.” The book provides a history of slavery and denounces the inequalities that prevailed in employment and education. It persuaded many readers to join the abolitionist movement. Child went on to edit the National Anti-Slavery Standard and to transcribe slave narratives.