Tag Archives: abolition

Book Reviews #16- Women Faithful to Their Calling

Faithful Women

Throughout the centuries many women have found themselves in leadership positions while they were trying to remain faithful to God’s calling. These women were in circumstances where they could not remain silent about the injustices in the world around them. They spoke out because they were honoring God by working to care for the poor and suffering. They tried to alleviate suffering because they loved the Lord Jesus and wanted salvation and healing for others. They were not seeking leadership positions. Through their faithfulness, God thrust them into positions where they could lead others.

The four women in these reviews lived during a span three centuries: Margaret Fell Fox (seventeenth century), Sarah Osborn (eighteenth century), and the Grimke sisters (nineteenth century). During these centuries women were not supposed to be speaking in front of groups containing men. Yet, these women boldly led Bible studies or held meetings to share God’s love and truth because they were called of God to do so. The stories of their lives are an inspiration to women today who seek to serve God with their individual callings.

 

undaunted zeal margaret fell—  Glines, Elsa F., Editor, Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell, (Friends United Press, Richmond, Indiana 2003).

Margaret Askew Fell Fox (1614-1702) was a woman of undaunted courage. She lived through one of the most tumultuous times in English history. This is the same time period in which John Bunyan and many other non-conformist Christians were imprisoned for their faith. Through all of the upheavals in government and religious policies Margaret kept a steady faith in God and His Word. She always put God first even if it meant going to prison. She strived for liberty of conscience.

Margaret wrote many letters while in prison under her own name – Margaret Fell. (She did not marry George Fox until 1669, one year after she got out of prison.) In this book, Elsa F. Glines publishes 164 letters of Margaret Fell. The book is divided into three parts for three periods of Margaret’s life. Each section begins with a short biography of that period of Margaret’s life. The introductions to the letters contain a wealth of historical background that is interesting to history students.

Whether you are interested in the history of the Friends, or Quakers, or just in the topic of religious freedom, you will enjoy this book.

 

—  Brekus, Catherine A., Sarah Osborn’s World: The Rise of Catherine-Brekus-Sarah-Osborns-World-195x300Evangelical Christianity in Early America,  (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2013).

While most people have heard of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Gilbert Tennent, few know who Sarah Haggar Wheaten Osborn was. Yet during this time of the Great Awakening a religious revival occurred at Sarah Osborn’s house. Decades before Americans were taking abolition seriously, Sarah brought both free and enslaved black men and women into her home and taught them the Bible. Sarah’s life made a difference to thousands.

Through all of the many afflictions in her life, Sarah Osborn (1714-1796) maintained her faith in God. She struggled through wars, poor health, the deaths of loved ones, and conflicts at her church. Today she has been all but forgotten, but Sarah Osborn deserves to be remembered for the part she played in the many lives of others in the eighteenth century. Hundreds of less fortunate people praised Sarah for her faith, courage, and humble service. Sarah believed that God used her suffering to draw her closer to Him and to be an example to others.

In this book, Catherine Brekus relates Sarah’s life through the backdrop of eighteenth century religion. She gives a good history of the rise of evangelicalism that will be interesting to those who love biography, history, and theology. Sarah’s life is still an encouragement to believers today.

 

Angelina and Sarah—  Lerner, Gerda., The Grimke Sisters from South Caroline: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition, (The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2004).

The Grimke sisters, Angeline and Sarah, have been pretty much forgotten in our day but in the nineteenth century they were well known in abolitionist circles. They made history in speeches against slavery as well as in publishing tracts calling for an end to that evil institution. They recognized that slavery and discrimination, though connected, were two separate issues and fought against both. In 1838 Angelina made history as the first woman to speak before a legislative body in the United States.

In this book, Gerda Lerner tells the amazing story of these two southern born women who became famous for their fight for equality for blacks and for women. The book reads like a novel and is hard to put down. Gerda Lerner also includes some of the famous speeches of Angelina (the better speaker of the sisters) and excerpts from the writings of Sarah Grimke. (See below.)

Many women today can thank Angelina and Sarah for their courage in pioneering justice and equal rights for both blacks and women.

 

—  Wilbanks, Charles, Editor., Walking by Faith: The Diary of walking by faith grimkeAngelina Grimke, 1828-1835, (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 2003).

Even as a young girl Angelina Grimke had deep faith in God. Angelina’s prayer was:

O that I might live religion – how striking the exhortation of the Apostle – present your bodies a living sacrifice, Lord enable me so to live that every day I may sacrifice my own will to thine.  (From her diary, December 25, 1828)

Angelina Grimke Weld was born in 1805 in South Carolina. She was the youngest of fourteen children born to slaveholders John Grimke and Mary Smith Grimke. Her older sister Sarah was thirteen when Angelina was born. Sarah doted on her baby sister Angelina and the two remained close until the end of their lives.

In this book, Charles Wilbanks intersperses biographical sketches of Angelina’s life with the diary excerpts over a period of about 8 years. It is a fascinating story of how one woman went from a slaveholding family to being a leader in the abolitionist movement. The reader witnesses Angelina’s spiritual growth and social maturity from her earliest recorded thoughts (age 22) to the writing of a letter to the editor for William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper (age 30). This letter to the editor propelled her into the public eye as a leader in the fight for abolition. Her diary ends when her public career begins. At this point, I suggest you read Gerda Lerner’s book if you already haven’t done so!

 

— Grimke, Sarah Moore, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and sarah letters to parkerthe Condition of Woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker…, (Originally published by Isaac Knapp, 25, Cornhill, 1838).

Though of the two Grimke sisters, Angelina was the principle speaker, Sarah was just as passionate about justice for the downtrodden. She left writings that have come to the attention of historians today because Sarah was so far ahead of her time in her thought. Here is an excerpt from Letter #1:

“On the Original Equality of Women”

“Had Adam tenderly reproved his wife, and endeavored to lead her to repentance instead of sharing in her guilt, I should be much more ready to accord to man that superiority which he claims; but as the facts stand disclosed by the sacred historian, it appears to me that to say the least, there was as much weakness exhibited by Adam as by Eve. They both fell from innocence, and consequently from happiness, but not from equality…. The consequence of the fall was an immediate struggle for dominion, and Jehovah foretold which would gain the ascendancy; but as he created them in his image, as that image manifestly was not lost by the fall, because it is urged in Genesis 9:6, as an argument why the life of man should not be taken by his fellow man, there is no reason to suppose that sin produced any distinction between them as moral, intellectual and responsible beings.”

The entire book is especially fascinating when you remember is was written in the 1830’s, well before the women’s suffrage movement. Today woman have freedoms that we take for granted – education, jobs, the vote, and a public voice. Sarah could only dream about and write about those things. She was very courageous to speak out for the truth in 1838. We can be very thankful for women like Sarah Grimke who were pioneers in the suffrage movement.

 

 

Angelina Grimke Weld

O that I might live religion – how striking the exhortation of the Apostle – present your bodies a living sacrifice, Lord enable me so to live that every day I may sacrifice my own will to thine.            Angelina Grimke, December 25, 1828

Angelina and SarahThe Grimke sisters, Angeline and Sarah, have been pretty much forgotten in our day but in the nineteenth century they were well known in abolitionist circles. They made history in speeches against slavery as well as in publishing tracts calling for an end to the evil institution. They recognized that slavery and discrimination were two separate issues and fought against both.

While there were many famous male abolitionists, the sisters drew large audiences due to their compassionate speeches. Angelina and Sarah were unique because they had been raised in South Carolina on a slave holding plantation and their outspokenness against slavery was based on their first hand experiences witnessing the cruelty of slavery. Audiences came to jeer the women speakers but stayed to listen in rapt silence as the sisters recounted the horrors of slavery and called for an end to it.

Angelina Grimke was born in 1805. She was the youngest of fourteen children born to John Grimke and Mary Smith Grimke. Her older sister Sarah was thirteen when Angelina was born. Sarah doted on her baby sister Angelina and the two remained close until the end of their lives.

Angelina’s family was the type of wealthy southern family that is pictured in movies and books. Slaves were seen as “not quite human” with no rights. They were badly mistreated. One of Angelina’s brothers beat a slave boy so harshly that he could hardly walk. Angelina, even as a young girl, had a deep faith in God and the Bible. She could not reconcile the cruelty to other human beings, made in the image of God just as she was, with her religion. She tried to remonstrate with her mean brother; he told her to mind her own business.

In her personal life Angelina tried to live more as she thought a Christian should live. SheangelinaGrimkeWeld began to dress plainly and stopped going to frivolous parties. Her family who were of the privileged class barely tolerated her. Angelina prayed for them and even tried to convince them of the error of their ways. They were quite happy in their position in life and did not appreciate Angelina’s attempts to enlighten them. She desperately wanted to leave home but stayed to help her mother after the death of her father.

Angelina’s religious life went through several changes. She was uncomfortable in the cold established church that her mother went to. They did not preach against slavery. One day she heard a Presbyterian preacher speak what seemed to her the very words of God. She joined that church and since she was a young woman who never did anything by halves she began to teach Sunday School and to work in the church immediately.

When she thought that the time was right Angelina moved to Philadelphia because she could no longer support the institution of slavery. She waited until she felt like she had her mother’s blessing. Though they still disagreed on the issue of slavery Angelina and her mother would remain on loving terms.

Sarah had moved to Philadelphia some years before Angelina. When Angelina was exposed to the Friends’ Church (Quakers) through Sarah, she thought she had found a people of God who lived more closely to the Bible. As usual Angelina threw herself into meetings and church work and became well known for her spirituality. She became attached to the son of Friends’ ministers, but he died of an illness before they could get married. Angelina was heartbroken but believed that God had some purpose for her.

When William Lloyd Garrison began to publish appeals for the ending of slavery Angelina felt compelled to write him a personal letter to encourage him. “The ground upon which you stand is holy ground,” she told him, “never-never surrender it . . . if you surrender it, the hope of the slave is extinguished.” We must continue to agitate for the end of slavery even if abolitionists are persecuted and attacked because, as she put it, “This is a cause worth dying for.”

Garrison published her passionate letter in his paper “Liberator”. This was the start of Angelina’s career as an abolitionist speaker. It was also the beginning of the end of her relationship with the orthodox Quakers. The church leader came to her and asked her to renounce what she had written. Angelina was surprised at his attitude and respected him as her elder and she did some soul searching.
That night I hardly slept at all & the next day I was sunk as low as I ever had been involved in great darkness & desiring to feel utterly condemned if I had done wrong.  She threw herself as a helpless sinner at the foot of the Cross & plead for sight & for strength to undo, or bear just what was required. Angelina had come to the place where she realized what God had called her to do. She had promised God if He would only prepare me to be & make me instrumental in the great work of Emancipation I would be willing to bear any suffering. … tho’ condemned by human judges I was acquitted by him whom I believe qualified me to will it, and I felt willing to bear all, if it was only made instrumental of good. I felt great unworthiness of being used in such a work but remembered that God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise and so was comforted.  (From her diary, September, 1835.)

Angelina prayed about the remonstrance from the Quakers in Philadelphia but knew that her call from God was stronger. And so the Grimke sisters began to speak out against slavery. The strong Quaker society in Philadelphia opposed the sisters so much that they decided to move to New York city where they become agents for the American Anti-Slavery Society.

quote-Angelina-Grimke-we-abolition-women-are-turning-the-world-183529_1

At first Angelina began to hold abolition meetings in New York city for women. Soon however, Angelina and Sarah found themselves speaking to mixed groups of men and women. This was shocking behavior in the nineteenth century and the sisters were ridiculed and castigated. The sisters courageously continued because they knew that freeing the enslaved and ending discrimination were too important to quit.

The sisters began to be in demand as speakers. They traveled so much that Angelina’s health was in danger several times. Their lives were also often in danger due to riots and mob violence. Northerners were just as bigoted against black people as Southerners and did not want to change things.

In 1838 Angelina made history as the first woman to speak before a legislative body in the United States. “I stand before you,” she told the members of the Massachusetts legislature as well as a crowd of enemies and supporters in the galleries, “on behalf of the 20,000 women of Massachusetts whose names are enrolled on petitions [which] relate to the great and solemn subject of slavery.”  Angelina pleaded for the end of not only slavery but of racial prejudice that she saw in the North.

Around this time Angelina met abolitionist Theodore Weld. They married on May 14, 1838. Angelina gave one more lecture and then terminated her speaking career. She would take her domestic duties seriously. She and Theodore bought a farm and Angelina had three children. Theodore continued to speak until his voice gave him trouble. In the years to follow the Weld’s and Sarah Grimke would teach in the schools that were established by Theodore. Of course these schools would be open to both boys and girls and black and white children. All three continued to attend meetings and write articles when they could for anti-slavery publications.

angellina quote negro

Angelina lived until 1879. Though she wanted slavery to end peacefully she accepted the fact of war in the 1860’s. For the rest of her life she continued to work for the end to racial discrimination which did not end with the war. It still hasn’t.

After suffering from the effects of strokes for several years Angelina died on October 26, 1879. Theodore died in 1895. Many women today can thank Angelina and Sarah for their courage in pioneering justice and equal rights for both blacks and women.

 

 

 

Antoinette Brown Blackwell

ant. brown quote 1

If any college dared to refuse a female student her hard earned degree today just because of her gender, that school would be in big trouble. Not only could there be a lawsuit pending, but society would be outraged. We cannot imagine a woman not getting a degree or a good job or a position in an organization just because she is a woman. As women today we take it for granted that we should be treated with respect. We expect to be paid fairly and given our due for our hard work.

This has not always been the case. In the mid-nineteenth century women were seldom allowed to attend college and less seldom given the degrees that they earned. Society was wary of giving women the idea that they could do anything outside of the home. While we agree that marriage and family are high callings and women should be careful to honor their husbands and be good mothers, society should not limit them from where God has called them.

a b blackwellToday, the reason women can go to school, even seminary, and get their diplomas and then get good jobs is thanks to women like Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell.

I greatly admire Antoinette Blackwell who often stood alone to be faithful to her own convictions. At the same time Antoinette was willing to be a peacemaker in order to advance the cause of justice. Antoinette always sought to do what was right.

Antoinette came from a Christian home and longed for the church to get serious about the Christian duty to take care of the downtrodden and abused. She united her faith to her actions.

This week we will recap the main events of Antoinette’s life and next week we will examine her thinking. Antoinette was a brilliant woman – compassionate and intelligent, able to submit to authority yet also a leading orator in her day, a theologian, a scientist, a wife, a mother, and a philosopher.

Antoinette Louisa was born to Joseph and Abigail Morse Brown on May 20, 1925 in Henrietta, New York. Demonstrating her intelligence at an early age she started school at the age of 3. Before she reached her ninth birthday she was admitted to the Congregational church as a member. This was unusual in her day, but the elders of her church were convinced of her learning and her piety.

Antoinette’s entire family was drawn to the reform movements in the 1800’s – anti-slavery, temperance, and moral reform. Joseph and Abigail encouraged all of their children, sons and daughters, to get an education. Antoinette went to local schools and eventually became a teacher in 1841.

In 1846 Antoinette began to attend Oberlin College. Oberlin was known as a college that believed that women and blacks (the term “African American” did not come until many years later) should receive an education. There were two groups of abolitionists in her day. Antoinette and her family believed that abolition should come as a result of political action; she was a “voting abolitionist”. The more radical abolitionists advocated extreme measures to free the slaves. The Brown family was hopeful that legislation would end the cruel system in a peaceful way.

While at Oberlin Antoinette made a life-long friend, and future sister-in-law, of Lucy Stone. They were good friends even though Lucy did not approve of Antoinette’s orthodox religious views or her view on political abolition. Both women however were interested in advancing the cause of justice for women.

Antoinette received a literary degree in 1847. That was what was available to women at that time. She was determined to remain at Oberlin for three more years in order to study theology and train for the ministry. When she had completed the course work for the degree the faculty refused to grant it to her. While the male students were invited to the commencement exercises, Antoinette’s name did not even appear in the official listings of the theological class of 1850. It was not until 1908 that Antoinette Brown’s work was fully recognized when Oberlin granted her a D.D.

While at school Antoinette accepted speaking engagements in Ohio and New York. She spoke on slavery and women’s rights.

After completing her work at Oberlin, Antoinette left for New York and began to do charitable work in the slums. She lectured to earn money to help in the cause for the poor.

Antoinette traveled to Massachusetts to attend the first National Woman’s Rights Convention. After this she began to lecture more frequently in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New England on slavery, temperance, and woman’s rights. She sometimes preached on Sundays when invited into local churches.

In the fall of 1852, Antoinette fulfilled a dream since childhood by becoming the minister at a Congregational church in South Butler, New York. On September 15, 1853, Antoinette was ordained as a minister, becoming the first woman to be officially ordained in a Protestant church in the United States.

This ministerial position only lasted until July 1854 when Antoinette resigned. She had found that being in charge of a church was not really her calling. There were stresses and strains with her congregants. She was also feeling the tug to get back into more work to raise the status of women.

Antoinette left for New York and worked with Abby Hopper Gibbons for women criminals and prisoners. In 1855 Antoinette’s lifelong friend, Lucy Stone, married Henry Blackwell. The Blackwell family members were all involved in various reform movements. Henry’s brother Samuel became interested in Antoinette. He knew that she shared the same feelings of concern about justice as he did. He proposed almost as soon as he met Antoinette. Antoinette had to think about it a while, but finally they were married in 1856.

Over the next few years the Blackwell’s had seven children. Five girls survived until adulthood. The Blackwell’s moved to New Jersey to raise their family.

Antoinette put aside her lectures to be with her husband and children. She was a happy wife and mother. Antoinette turned to writing because she could do this while tending her children. When the girls were old enough, she took a few speaking engagements. Sam proved to be a man ahead of his time. While Antoinette was busy writing or speaking he looked after the children.

In 1869 Antoinette published her first book, Studies in General Science. In this book she reveals what a fine mind she had. She was optimistic as people in the mid-nineteenth century were, seeing a time when people would ultimately cooperate and get along with each other. Five or six more works followed including a book of poems and a novel.

In 1878 Antoinette joined the Unitarian church. They recognized her as a minister and she began to work with the Unitarians for the rest of her life.

Antoinette outlived most of her fellow reform workers. She alone experienced the ABBlackwell3-235x300passage of the nineteenth amendment and tasted the sweet victory of enfranchisement in 1920 when she cast her vote for Warren G. Harding for president.

Antoinette died in Elizabeth, New Jersey on November 5, 1921. This brave woman had been a leader in many reform movements. Antoinette knew how to put her principles into action her whole life, integrating her orthodox theology with her concern for justice for women, blacks, and the poor. We can learn much from her life.