Some historical events hold transcendent significance. Angelina Grimke's address to the Massachusetts State Legislature, February 21, 1838, is one of those events. In the ongoing struggle for human rights this event is highly significant both for Black History and Women’s History. Said to be the first ever address by an American woman to a legislative assembly, Ms. Grimke spoke to a standing-room-only hall, with the gallery, staircase, and even the platform filled with interested citizens: (Lerner, p. 2)
“…because (slavery) it is a political subject, it has often been said that women had nothing to do with it. Are we aliens, because we are women? Are we bereft of citizenship because we are mothers, wives and daughters of a mighty people? Have women no country – no interests staked in public weal – no liabilities in common peril – no partnership in a nation’s guilt and shame?”
"If so, then may we well hide our faces in the dust, and cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes. This domination of woman must be resigned – the sooner the better; in the age which is approaching she should be something more – she should be a citizen… I hold, Mr. Chairman, that American women have to do with this subject, not only because it is moral and religious, but because it is political, insomuch as we are citizens of this republic …"
"I stand before you as a southerner, exiled from the land of my birth by the sound of the lash and the piteous cry of the slave. I stand before you as a repentant slaveholder. I stand before you as a moral being and as a moral being I feel that I owe it to the suffering slave and to the deluded master, to my country and to the world to do all that I can to overturn a system of complicated crimes, build upon the broken hearts and prostrate bodies of my countrymen in chains and cemented by the blood, sweat and tears of my sisters in bonds." (Lerner, pp. 6-8)
Sarah and Angelina Grimke were among 13 children born to a wealthy slave owning family in Charleston, South Carolina. Their father was one-time Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme court. Sarah, being one of the oldest children, accompanied her ill father to Philadelphia in 1818 for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment. His illness worsened while in Philadelphia and he eventually died there, leaving Sarah with the arduous task of handling his burial alone in an unfamiliar place. Befriended by a Quaker family while there, Sarah was not initially drawn to the religion, but the people who assisted her in Philadelphia undoubtedly had an impact on her. Later, Sarah’s interest was stirred by the writings of Quaker John Woolman. At age 28, upon further study and worship, Sarah was moved by divine and mystical urgings to embrace the Quaker faith and return to Philadelphia.
Her younger sister Angelina, growing up in the Charleston aristocracy, was sensitive to and troubled by the violent and abusive practices of slavery that she observed, even in her own family.
Compelled by the testimony of her older sister Sarah, Angelina converted to the Quakers in Charleston, even though the fellowship was tiny and had little to offer. Her decision was carefully considered and supported with extensive communication with her former congregations, and though she was held in the highest regard due to her exemplary lifestyle and committed activity on behalf of the church, she was ultimately expelled from the Presbyterian fellowship for her unwillingness to recant her choice to fellowship with the Quaker group. (Lerner, 66-86)
In November, 1829, Angelina joined Sarah in Philadelphia. For the purpose of our review of the abolitionist movement, the Grimke’s involvement became historically noteworthy about six years later in 1835. During the intervening years in Philadelphia, the Grimkes engaged in charitable and educational work and faithful participation in the Society of Friends. The life of the Quaker society somewhat shielded them from news of the world outside of Philadelphia. They lived a simple but free existence, within limited financial resources. Angelina met Catherine and Harriet Beecher, daughters of the famous Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher, while considering application to Catherine Beecher’s Female Seminary, a move discouraged if not forbidden by the Quaker elders. (You may recognize the name of Harriet Beecher as the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the widely distributed and highly influential work on slavery that was published about 20 years later in 1852.) Back in Philadelphia, Angelina took a post teaching young children, but found that it was not the work for her. The Quaker community in which the sisters fellowshipped was at that time distracted by an internal split and controversy over teachings and resources. This circumstance possibly limited the sister’s activism in some ways while apparently preparing them for it in other ways, namely the emphasis on intellectual development. The sisters shared with their brother Thomas an interest in the Peace Movement and pacifism, opposition to capital punishment, and, of all things, interest in spelling reform, which was essentially an emphasis on basic literacy. Engaging the growing debate between colonization and emancipation, Thomas asked his sisters to compile for him a list of the best American and English works on abolition for his consideration. (Lerner, 109). Soon thereafter Thomas died of cholera, as had almost 1,000 others in Philadelphia in 1832. The sisters both suffered unfulfilled courtships, and Angelina’s love interest had also died from illness a short time before.
Lerner beautifully describes this period of life for the sisters, which could be for us an inspiration in hope, when life seems to be characterized by tragedy. I quote Lerner at length:
“(The sisters) were disillusioned, both had been unhappy in love. Through Thomas’ death their last contact with wider social concerns seemed cut off. Their religion sustained them in resignation and grief, but it seemed now that their search for a purpose had ended in failure. They had come North and found freedom from (the environment of) slavery, but no freedom for themselves. Their feelings were dead, their intellects stifled. It was a familiar story and it should have ended there. They had reached the limit of freedom their age permitted to women. They were spinsters, aged forty-three and thirty, alone, without training and occupation and purpose – by the standard of their day, their lives were over. Instead, it was like the long incubation of the butterfly in the cocoon – all that had come before was merely preparation. Their real life, their role as pioneers of a future freedom, was only just beginning.” (Lerner, 110-111)
Their anti-slavery feelings were ever present but, as noted, the manner of their Quaker fellowship in Philadelphia did not encourage their individual activism during these few years.(note 1) Gradually their awareness grew, particularly through The Liberator and The Emancipator. According to Lerner, the sisters date their formal involvement in the movement to a meeting March 3, 1835, at the Cherry Street Presbyterian Church, conducted by the British abolitionist George Thomson. (Lerner, 120) But more than a specific meeting, it appears that Angelina in particular was moved to action by the growing vehemence and violence expressed against the movement both in the south and in the north as publications of the movement were confiscated and burned and movement leaders were threatened, beaten, hung and burned in effigy by mobs of angry opponents of their activism. In some cases, northern free blacks became the victims of this mob violence and their homes destroyed. (Lerner, 122-123)(note 2)
Later in 1835, Angelina Grimke connected with William Lloyd Garrison via personal letter. As was typical for his editorial method, Garrison published the letter in The Liberator.. Her words included the following sentiment …“Respected friend … The ground upon which you stand is holy ground. Never, never surrender. It is my deep, solemn, deliberate conviction that this is a cause worth dying for.” (video The Abolitionists) The publication of the letter became a matter of much turmoil, given the overall controversy of the issue and of Garrison, not to mention the relative public silence of women in political debate.
The next development in the remarkable life of the Grimke sisters was their relatively rapid and dramatic rise to prominence as public speakers in the abolitionist movement, also transitioning to include increasing emphasis on women’s rights. Recall the opening episode of this article – February 1838, speaking before the Massachusetts legislature – to set the stage. At this moment, about a year and a half prior, in the summer of 1836, Angelina and Sarah were invited to come to New York as the first female agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The contemplated the invitation carefully and over a period of months, recognizing the significance and import of the decision. In the interim time, both sisters completed their first books (sometimes referred to as pamphlets, both being about 50 pages in length) on the subject of abolition. Both women cite specific mystical prompting from God as motivation to complete the works. Angelina wrote An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South and Sarah wrote Appeal to the Clergy of the Southern States. These writings were intended as a Biblical and moral appeal directly to the slave owners themselves, demonstrating the movement vision and strategy and consistent with Angelina’s youthful zeal by which she had endeavored to convert all of Charleston to her Christian ideals. Both books were distributed widely by antislavery societies with selections reprinted in The Liberator and other newspapers.
Eventually they agreed to accept the invitation of the AASS, and were invited as the only women among the forty agents at the training conference of nearly three intense weeks in November of 1836. The training was conducted primarily by Theodore Dwight Weld, who had become one of the leading abolitionist orators in the country, developing his nonviolent resistance strategies in the western antislavery movement, beginning in Ohio at the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati. (Lerner, 117, 128)(note 3) Initially the sisters undertook a tour of small gatherings in New York, almost exclusively women in attendance, according to the social custom of the day. The parlor meetings and lectures occurred during December, January and February of 1836-37, and eventually grew to reach crowds of over 300 people. The message included not only detailed arguments against slavery and in favor of immediate abolition, based on Biblical and moral arguments, but also a strong emphasis on challenging the race prejudice that they observed at every turn in their northern travels. Having grown up in relation blacks all of their life, they had an acute sensitivity to these practices, which they carefully confronted on a number of occasions.
A significant development, becoming much more prominent in their speaking tours of 1837, was the evolution of a feminist component of the message. An eight week speaking tour in the Boston area later in 1837 rapidly evolved into mixed gender gatherings often exceeding 1,000 and typically exceeding the capacity of whatever speaking venue would accept them. Lerner records that their first large, mixed gender meeting was held June 21, 1837. This speaking tour also included what is thought to be the first public platform debate between a woman and man, in Amesbury, July 17, 1837. (In the debate, Angelina debated John Page on the Biblical perspective on slavery, for and against.)(Lerner, 179) Often they were excluded from churches on the grounds of being women, or their advocacy of immediate emancipation, or on the grounds of their emphasis on women’s rights. The women grew bolder and more effective. Angelina became distinguished as the more gifted orator, but they developed a style and strategy that included both sisters consistently in the work. A subsequent speaking tour took place in August, September and November of 1837 with similar results, although the resistance to the Grimke sisters from some elements grew, and it was often difficult to find a suitable venue.(The anecdotes of the adventures of speaking to overpacked venues, along with various forms of resistance and protest, are remarkable, and I can by no means do justice to this amazing story in these few paragraphs!) (Lerner, 165-182)(note 4)
In this ground breaking and grueling work they became traveling orators for abolitionist movement throughout New England. Lerner summarizes ..."The sisters had been in New England twenty-three weeks, during which time they had spoken before at least eighty-eight meetings in sixty-seven towns. They had reached, face to face, a minimum of 40,500 people in meetings." (Lerner, 227) Their work and influence ultimately led to the appearance before the Massachusetts Legislature in 1838. Sarah was actually scheduled to give the lecture, but could not fulfill the duty due to illness, thus the opportunity fell to the younger Angelina. Angelina's initial appearance before the Massachusetts Legislature in February of 1838 was followed by another, and Sarah was able to join her for a third.
The paths of Angelina Grimke and Theodore Weld continued to cross during these months, and eventually they discovered a mutual affection for one another, disclosed only a few weeks before the Boston assembly in February. They were married in May of 1838 in a Philadelphia ceremony with a mixed-race congregation and Black and White ministers presiding. This interracial social freedom among some whites and blacks was accompanied by increased open opposition to the movement in Philadelphia. In the week following their wedding the Welds joined gathered reformers to participate in an antislavery convention in Philadelphia. Tension and protest was high throughout the event. On Wednesday evening, Angelina spoke for over an hour to continuous protests, breaking of glass, and loud disturbances. It was described as her finest hour as an orator. (Lerner, 245) But the meeting proceeded until Thursday, when for the sake of calm it was agreed to close the hall for the evening. On that evening, May 17, Philadelphia Hall, a building that has just been completed to host reform meetings and as a monument to free speech, was burned to the ground by a mob of violent protesters against the movement, its interracial character, and specifically against the gathering of the convention of The Antislavery Convention of American Women. The riot and arson gained nationwide attention, although the attention often focused attacks on the reformers. (Lerner, 249) But the long, difficult struggle continued.
This event had an impact on Theodore and Angelina, which seems have resulted in a different focus of activism for their work. They soon moved to New Jersey and, along with Sarah, completed the work American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of A Thousand Witnesses, providing first-hand accounts of the experiences of slavery. The book selling over 100,000 copies in the first year, was distributed by the American Antislavery Society and became very influential in the later work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, inspiring her work on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Frederick Douglas, who cited it in his speeches.
To be continued.
(1) Quaker women were accustomed to public speaking, due to the egalitarian and non-hierarchical format of their worship meetings. Three Quaker women – Lucretia Mott, Lydia White and Esther Moore were the first women to speak before the American Antislavery Society in 1833. (Lerner, 121)
(2) Not to lose perspective, these descriptions of the hardships of the anti-slavery activists are not in any way meant to compare to the infinitely greater suffering of the over 2,000,000 actual slaves held as property across the slave states at this time in history.
(3) The Lane Seminary debates in Cincinnati form another fascinating turning point in this movement. Of the western anti-slavery movement and the violent opposition faced, Lerner writes thus: "Every effort was made to deny them (abolitionists) a hearing, frighten their audiences away and keep free Negroes from attending their meetings. Usually the press prepared the ground for violence with a barrage of distorted interpretations of the abolitionist views or outright lies. At their meetings hecklers abounded, sometimes drummers or other kinds of noisemakers invaded the hall and kept up a steady racket. Frequently the speakers were pelted with rotten eggs and vegetables; at times they were hit with bricks, sticks or other handy weapons... In time Weld and his band came to consider a riot a part of their introduction to a community. Pacifists by conviction, they developed "non-violent resistance" into a working technique. On the first night in a new community their main task was to stand up to the mob without fear. Weld discovered that by folding his arms across his chest and calmly staring down a mob, he usually could impress the crowd enough to escape serious injury. The next night ... he would have found enough men curious to see what was the source of his courage to guarantee him a hearing. Often a few of these would form an escort and handle the disturbances. Once the audience was willing to listen, he would speak without further reference to the violence, using all his persuasiveness and oratorical skill. He would usually end up by making enough converts to form a committee to carry on the work after his departure ... in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and Rhode Island ..." (Lerner, 128)
(4) "Audiences flocked to them... They continued at the grueling pace of five to six meetings a week, each in a different town. They traveled by stage and carriage, on horseback and on wagons. Sometimes they spoke after a ten-mile ride without a chance for a meal or rest...The halls in which they spoke were overcrowded, ill-ventilated, drafty... At Woonsocket Falls, where Sarah lectured, the beams holding up the gallery began to crack. Two carpenters were called, who pronounced the building dangerously overcrowded and asked that at least one third of those present leave. Not enough volunteers could be found and the sisters had to close the meeting for reasons of safety."(Lerner, 195)
Bibliography
Lerner, G. (1967). The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Woman's Rights and Abolition. New York: Schocken Books.
Mayer, H. (1998). All On Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Rapley, R. (Writer), & Rapley, R. (Director). (2013). American Experience: The Abolitionists [Motion Picture]. PBS / Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"If so, then may we well hide our faces in the dust, and cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes. This domination of woman must be resigned – the sooner the better; in the age which is approaching she should be something more – she should be a citizen… I hold, Mr. Chairman, that American women have to do with this subject, not only because it is moral and religious, but because it is political, insomuch as we are citizens of this republic …"
"I stand before you as a southerner, exiled from the land of my birth by the sound of the lash and the piteous cry of the slave. I stand before you as a repentant slaveholder. I stand before you as a moral being and as a moral being I feel that I owe it to the suffering slave and to the deluded master, to my country and to the world to do all that I can to overturn a system of complicated crimes, build upon the broken hearts and prostrate bodies of my countrymen in chains and cemented by the blood, sweat and tears of my sisters in bonds." (Lerner, pp. 6-8)
Her younger sister Angelina, growing up in the Charleston aristocracy, was sensitive to and troubled by the violent and abusive practices of slavery that she observed, even in her own family.
Angelina Grimke was unusually driven by her spiritual belief and practice, exhibiting exceptional confidence and independence in her willingness to confront and hopefully persuade her mother and siblings, her church relations, and even the entire city of Charleston of the evils of slavery and the deep inconsistency between slavery and the principles of their shared religion.
Compelled by the testimony of her older sister Sarah, Angelina converted to the Quakers in Charleston, even though the fellowship was tiny and had little to offer. Her decision was carefully considered and supported with extensive communication with her former congregations, and though she was held in the highest regard due to her exemplary lifestyle and committed activity on behalf of the church, she was ultimately expelled from the Presbyterian fellowship for her unwillingness to recant her choice to fellowship with the Quaker group. (Lerner, 66-86)
In November, 1829, Angelina joined Sarah in Philadelphia. For the purpose of our review of the abolitionist movement, the Grimke’s involvement became historically noteworthy about six years later in 1835. During the intervening years in Philadelphia, the Grimkes engaged in charitable and educational work and faithful participation in the Society of Friends. The life of the Quaker society somewhat shielded them from news of the world outside of Philadelphia. They lived a simple but free existence, within limited financial resources. Angelina met Catherine and Harriet Beecher, daughters of the famous Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher, while considering application to Catherine Beecher’s Female Seminary, a move discouraged if not forbidden by the Quaker elders. (You may recognize the name of Harriet Beecher as the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the widely distributed and highly influential work on slavery that was published about 20 years later in 1852.) Back in Philadelphia, Angelina took a post teaching young children, but found that it was not the work for her. The Quaker community in which the sisters fellowshipped was at that time distracted by an internal split and controversy over teachings and resources. This circumstance possibly limited the sister’s activism in some ways while apparently preparing them for it in other ways, namely the emphasis on intellectual development. The sisters shared with their brother Thomas an interest in the Peace Movement and pacifism, opposition to capital punishment, and, of all things, interest in spelling reform, which was essentially an emphasis on basic literacy. Engaging the growing debate between colonization and emancipation, Thomas asked his sisters to compile for him a list of the best American and English works on abolition for his consideration. (Lerner, 109). Soon thereafter Thomas died of cholera, as had almost 1,000 others in Philadelphia in 1832. The sisters both suffered unfulfilled courtships, and Angelina’s love interest had also died from illness a short time before.
Lerner beautifully describes this period of life for the sisters, which could be for us an inspiration in hope, when life seems to be characterized by tragedy. I quote Lerner at length:
“(The sisters) were disillusioned, both had been unhappy in love. Through Thomas’ death their last contact with wider social concerns seemed cut off. Their religion sustained them in resignation and grief, but it seemed now that their search for a purpose had ended in failure. They had come North and found freedom from (the environment of) slavery, but no freedom for themselves. Their feelings were dead, their intellects stifled. It was a familiar story and it should have ended there. They had reached the limit of freedom their age permitted to women. They were spinsters, aged forty-three and thirty, alone, without training and occupation and purpose – by the standard of their day, their lives were over. Instead, it was like the long incubation of the butterfly in the cocoon – all that had come before was merely preparation. Their real life, their role as pioneers of a future freedom, was only just beginning.” (Lerner, 110-111)
Their anti-slavery feelings were ever present but, as noted, the manner of their Quaker fellowship in Philadelphia did not encourage their individual activism during these few years.(note 1) Gradually their awareness grew, particularly through The Liberator and The Emancipator. According to Lerner, the sisters date their formal involvement in the movement to a meeting March 3, 1835, at the Cherry Street Presbyterian Church, conducted by the British abolitionist George Thomson. (Lerner, 120) But more than a specific meeting, it appears that Angelina in particular was moved to action by the growing vehemence and violence expressed against the movement both in the south and in the north as publications of the movement were confiscated and burned and movement leaders were threatened, beaten, hung and burned in effigy by mobs of angry opponents of their activism. In some cases, northern free blacks became the victims of this mob violence and their homes destroyed. (Lerner, 122-123)(note 2)
Later in 1835, Angelina Grimke connected with William Lloyd Garrison via personal letter. As was typical for his editorial method, Garrison published the letter in The Liberator.. Her words included the following sentiment …“Respected friend … The ground upon which you stand is holy ground. Never, never surrender. It is my deep, solemn, deliberate conviction that this is a cause worth dying for.” (video The Abolitionists) The publication of the letter became a matter of much turmoil, given the overall controversy of the issue and of Garrison, not to mention the relative public silence of women in political debate.
She was urged by many to retract. Lerner describes this transitional moment in her life. “She could no more recall it than she could deny the essence of her past life. It was a symbolic act, a public gesture of commitment from one world to another. All the years of floundering and searching had finally brought her to this single moment. Judge John Grimke’s daughter from Charleston, South Carolina, had burned the bridges behind her.” (Lerner, 125)
The next development in the remarkable life of the Grimke sisters was their relatively rapid and dramatic rise to prominence as public speakers in the abolitionist movement, also transitioning to include increasing emphasis on women’s rights. Recall the opening episode of this article – February 1838, speaking before the Massachusetts legislature – to set the stage. At this moment, about a year and a half prior, in the summer of 1836, Angelina and Sarah were invited to come to New York as the first female agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The contemplated the invitation carefully and over a period of months, recognizing the significance and import of the decision. In the interim time, both sisters completed their first books (sometimes referred to as pamphlets, both being about 50 pages in length) on the subject of abolition. Both women cite specific mystical prompting from God as motivation to complete the works. Angelina wrote An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South and Sarah wrote Appeal to the Clergy of the Southern States. These writings were intended as a Biblical and moral appeal directly to the slave owners themselves, demonstrating the movement vision and strategy and consistent with Angelina’s youthful zeal by which she had endeavored to convert all of Charleston to her Christian ideals. Both books were distributed widely by antislavery societies with selections reprinted in The Liberator and other newspapers.
Eventually they agreed to accept the invitation of the AASS, and were invited as the only women among the forty agents at the training conference of nearly three intense weeks in November of 1836. The training was conducted primarily by Theodore Dwight Weld, who had become one of the leading abolitionist orators in the country, developing his nonviolent resistance strategies in the western antislavery movement, beginning in Ohio at the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati. (Lerner, 117, 128)(note 3) Initially the sisters undertook a tour of small gatherings in New York, almost exclusively women in attendance, according to the social custom of the day. The parlor meetings and lectures occurred during December, January and February of 1836-37, and eventually grew to reach crowds of over 300 people. The message included not only detailed arguments against slavery and in favor of immediate abolition, based on Biblical and moral arguments, but also a strong emphasis on challenging the race prejudice that they observed at every turn in their northern travels. Having grown up in relation blacks all of their life, they had an acute sensitivity to these practices, which they carefully confronted on a number of occasions.
A significant development, becoming much more prominent in their speaking tours of 1837, was the evolution of a feminist component of the message. An eight week speaking tour in the Boston area later in 1837 rapidly evolved into mixed gender gatherings often exceeding 1,000 and typically exceeding the capacity of whatever speaking venue would accept them. Lerner records that their first large, mixed gender meeting was held June 21, 1837. This speaking tour also included what is thought to be the first public platform debate between a woman and man, in Amesbury, July 17, 1837. (In the debate, Angelina debated John Page on the Biblical perspective on slavery, for and against.)(Lerner, 179) Often they were excluded from churches on the grounds of being women, or their advocacy of immediate emancipation, or on the grounds of their emphasis on women’s rights. The women grew bolder and more effective. Angelina became distinguished as the more gifted orator, but they developed a style and strategy that included both sisters consistently in the work. A subsequent speaking tour took place in August, September and November of 1837 with similar results, although the resistance to the Grimke sisters from some elements grew, and it was often difficult to find a suitable venue.(The anecdotes of the adventures of speaking to overpacked venues, along with various forms of resistance and protest, are remarkable, and I can by no means do justice to this amazing story in these few paragraphs!) (Lerner, 165-182)(note 4)
In this ground breaking and grueling work they became traveling orators for abolitionist movement throughout New England. Lerner summarizes ..."The sisters had been in New England twenty-three weeks, during which time they had spoken before at least eighty-eight meetings in sixty-seven towns. They had reached, face to face, a minimum of 40,500 people in meetings." (Lerner, 227) Their work and influence ultimately led to the appearance before the Massachusetts Legislature in 1838. Sarah was actually scheduled to give the lecture, but could not fulfill the duty due to illness, thus the opportunity fell to the younger Angelina. Angelina's initial appearance before the Massachusetts Legislature in February of 1838 was followed by another, and Sarah was able to join her for a third.
The paths of Angelina Grimke and Theodore Weld continued to cross during these months, and eventually they discovered a mutual affection for one another, disclosed only a few weeks before the Boston assembly in February. They were married in May of 1838 in a Philadelphia ceremony with a mixed-race congregation and Black and White ministers presiding. This interracial social freedom among some whites and blacks was accompanied by increased open opposition to the movement in Philadelphia. In the week following their wedding the Welds joined gathered reformers to participate in an antislavery convention in Philadelphia. Tension and protest was high throughout the event. On Wednesday evening, Angelina spoke for over an hour to continuous protests, breaking of glass, and loud disturbances. It was described as her finest hour as an orator. (Lerner, 245) But the meeting proceeded until Thursday, when for the sake of calm it was agreed to close the hall for the evening. On that evening, May 17, Philadelphia Hall, a building that has just been completed to host reform meetings and as a monument to free speech, was burned to the ground by a mob of violent protesters against the movement, its interracial character, and specifically against the gathering of the convention of The Antislavery Convention of American Women. The riot and arson gained nationwide attention, although the attention often focused attacks on the reformers. (Lerner, 249) But the long, difficult struggle continued.
This event had an impact on Theodore and Angelina, which seems have resulted in a different focus of activism for their work. They soon moved to New Jersey and, along with Sarah, completed the work American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of A Thousand Witnesses, providing first-hand accounts of the experiences of slavery. The book selling over 100,000 copies in the first year, was distributed by the American Antislavery Society and became very influential in the later work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, inspiring her work on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Frederick Douglas, who cited it in his speeches.
To be continued.
(1) Quaker women were accustomed to public speaking, due to the egalitarian and non-hierarchical format of their worship meetings. Three Quaker women – Lucretia Mott, Lydia White and Esther Moore were the first women to speak before the American Antislavery Society in 1833. (Lerner, 121)
(2) Not to lose perspective, these descriptions of the hardships of the anti-slavery activists are not in any way meant to compare to the infinitely greater suffering of the over 2,000,000 actual slaves held as property across the slave states at this time in history.
(3) The Lane Seminary debates in Cincinnati form another fascinating turning point in this movement. Of the western anti-slavery movement and the violent opposition faced, Lerner writes thus: "Every effort was made to deny them (abolitionists) a hearing, frighten their audiences away and keep free Negroes from attending their meetings. Usually the press prepared the ground for violence with a barrage of distorted interpretations of the abolitionist views or outright lies. At their meetings hecklers abounded, sometimes drummers or other kinds of noisemakers invaded the hall and kept up a steady racket. Frequently the speakers were pelted with rotten eggs and vegetables; at times they were hit with bricks, sticks or other handy weapons... In time Weld and his band came to consider a riot a part of their introduction to a community. Pacifists by conviction, they developed "non-violent resistance" into a working technique. On the first night in a new community their main task was to stand up to the mob without fear. Weld discovered that by folding his arms across his chest and calmly staring down a mob, he usually could impress the crowd enough to escape serious injury. The next night ... he would have found enough men curious to see what was the source of his courage to guarantee him a hearing. Often a few of these would form an escort and handle the disturbances. Once the audience was willing to listen, he would speak without further reference to the violence, using all his persuasiveness and oratorical skill. He would usually end up by making enough converts to form a committee to carry on the work after his departure ... in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and Rhode Island ..." (Lerner, 128)
(4) "Audiences flocked to them... They continued at the grueling pace of five to six meetings a week, each in a different town. They traveled by stage and carriage, on horseback and on wagons. Sometimes they spoke after a ten-mile ride without a chance for a meal or rest...The halls in which they spoke were overcrowded, ill-ventilated, drafty... At Woonsocket Falls, where Sarah lectured, the beams holding up the gallery began to crack. Two carpenters were called, who pronounced the building dangerously overcrowded and asked that at least one third of those present leave. Not enough volunteers could be found and the sisters had to close the meeting for reasons of safety."(Lerner, 195)
Bibliography
Lerner, G. (1967). The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Woman's Rights and Abolition. New York: Schocken Books.
Mayer, H. (1998). All On Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Rapley, R. (Writer), & Rapley, R. (Director). (2013). American Experience: The Abolitionists [Motion Picture]. PBS / Corporation for Public Broadcasting.