In August 1843, Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave and Presbyterian minister, delivered his incendiary 'Address to the Slaves of the United States of America' at the National Convention of Colored Citizens in Buffalo, New York. Garnet urged enslaved people to rise up in rebellion against their masters, arguing that 'rather die freemen than live to be slaves.' The speech was so radical that it was rejected by the convention, but it became a foundational text of Black nationalism and a precursor to the militant abolitionism of the 1850s. Garnet's address galvanized both his supporters and his critics, cementing his place as a leading Black activist.

Garnet's 'Address' is a masterwork of abolitionist rhetoric, combining biblical prophecy, political theory, and passionate oratory. The speech has been studied alongside the works of Frederick Douglass and David Walker as a key text in the African American literary canon. Its influence can be seen in the speeches of Malcolm X and in the poetry of the Black Arts Movement, which reclaimed Garnet's call for self-determination and resistance.