Grimke Sisters |
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Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah Grimke were legends in their own lifetimes. Together these South Carolina sisters made history: daring to speak before “promiscuous” or mixed crowds of men and women, publishing some of the most powerful anti-slavery tracts of the antebellum era, and stretching the boundaries of women’s public role as the first women to testify before a state legislature on the question of African American rights. Their crusade, which was not only to free the enslaved but to end racial discrimination throughout the United States, made them more radical than many of the reformers who advocated an end to slavery but who could not envision true social and political equality for the freedmen and women. And the Grimke sisters were among the first abolitionists to recognize the importance of women’s rights and to speak and write about the cause of female equality.
Sarah took responsibility for her sister, and the two remained the closest of friends throughout their lives. They both questioned slavery and desired equality for men and women, but it was not until Sarah traveled to Philadelphia that the sisters felt there was anything they could do as young women… In Pennsylvania, Sarah was introduced to the Society of Friends, or the Quakers. The Quakers' views on slavery and gender equality resonated with her. She returned to South Carolina but moved permanently to Philadelphia in 1820. Angelina joined Sarah in 1829, and the sisters became active members in the Society of Friends.
The sisters entered the national spotlight as abolitionists when Angelina wrote a letter against slavery to William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Garrison published Angelina's letter, which included her volunteering to help in the cause. "This is a cause worth dying for," she wrote. Within a year, Angelina issued her most famous pamphlet, titled "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South," urging white Southern women to help end the scourge of slavery…
Southern women appealing to Southerners was a new phenomenon, and the pamphlet was burned in the Grimkés' hometown. Undeterred, the sisters began a speaking tour of the Northeast, arranging talks in 67 cities, unheard of for women of the time. Sarah called on women "to rise from that degradation and bondage to which the faculties of our minds have been prevented from expanding to their full growth and are sometimes wholly crushed." Angelina's last speech of the tour, to the Massachusetts Legislature, made her the first woman in American history to speak in front of a legislative body.
The sisters' public speaking and involvement in the political sphere drew condemnation from religious leaders and traditionalists who did not believe that it was a woman's place to speak in public. The sisters soon found themselves fighting for equality of the sexes and women's rights, following women like Sojourner Truth in linking the rights of blacks and women. 14
Sarah took responsibility for her sister, and the two remained the closest of friends throughout their lives. They both questioned slavery and desired equality for men and women, but it was not until Sarah traveled to Philadelphia that the sisters felt there was anything they could do as young women… In Pennsylvania, Sarah was introduced to the Society of Friends, or the Quakers. The Quakers' views on slavery and gender equality resonated with her. She returned to South Carolina but moved permanently to Philadelphia in 1820. Angelina joined Sarah in 1829, and the sisters became active members in the Society of Friends.
The sisters entered the national spotlight as abolitionists when Angelina wrote a letter against slavery to William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Garrison published Angelina's letter, which included her volunteering to help in the cause. "This is a cause worth dying for," she wrote. Within a year, Angelina issued her most famous pamphlet, titled "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South," urging white Southern women to help end the scourge of slavery…
Southern women appealing to Southerners was a new phenomenon, and the pamphlet was burned in the Grimkés' hometown. Undeterred, the sisters began a speaking tour of the Northeast, arranging talks in 67 cities, unheard of for women of the time. Sarah called on women "to rise from that degradation and bondage to which the faculties of our minds have been prevented from expanding to their full growth and are sometimes wholly crushed." Angelina's last speech of the tour, to the Massachusetts Legislature, made her the first woman in American history to speak in front of a legislative body.
The sisters' public speaking and involvement in the political sphere drew condemnation from religious leaders and traditionalists who did not believe that it was a woman's place to speak in public. The sisters soon found themselves fighting for equality of the sexes and women's rights, following women like Sojourner Truth in linking the rights of blacks and women. 14