THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

Sarah and Angelina Grimke, born in South Carolina to slave holders, recognized early the evils and injustices of slavery and fought for abolition from the 1820’s to the end of the Civil War.  The sister’s also worked steadily in the Women’s Suffrage movement.

Sarah was born November 26, 1792, and Angelina, February 20, 1805.  Sarah, thirteen years older served as Angelina’s Godmother and the two sisters held a special bond.  They were also particularly close to Thomas, an older brother.

Mrs. Grimke gave birth to fourteen children but not all survived.  Their father, Judge John Faucheraud Grimke, was a lawyer and a man of social standing who signed a petition along with Benjamin Franklin against the Crown of England in 1774.  His family descended from Huguenots, having arrived in America three generations before his birth.

The Grimke sisters upheld strong beliefs against slavery and because of their convictions, left the South to live in Philadelphia.  The sisters joined the Quaker Church which was a leader in the abolitionist movement.  Sarah and Angelina addressed crowds across the Northern states, and wrote innumerable letters and articles in defense of abolition.

The riots of the 1830’s in New York, Boston, Concord, Philadelphia, and DC against abolition only strengthened the determined sisters and their resolve for abolition.  The Grimke sisters quoted from the New Testament and Old Testament to argue the evils of slavery.  In the Old Testament they argued, after seven years, slaves were given their freedom and a parcel of land to begin their lives, and were slaves no longer by law.

Sarah unlucky in love or too involved in the cause never married.  She did however have a loving friendship with Israel Morris for a number of years a fellow Quaker, and widower with eight children.

Angelina married Thomas Weld in 1832, a fellow abolitionist.  She had her first child, a boy, in 1839, and a girl in 1844.

In 1839, the Grimke sisters published the pamphlet “American Slavery As It Is”.  This pamphlet was the most widely read issue on slavery selling 100,000 copies, only surpassed by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

In 1838, on February 21, Angelina Grimke addressed the Legislative Committee in the Hall of Representatives in the State of Massachusetts.  It was the first time a woman would address a Committee of the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts.

The sisters fought for abolition until the end of the Civil War.

The Grimke sisters then continued the struggle for Women’s Suffrage until the end of their days.

Sarah died on December 23, 1873

Angelina died October 26, 1879.