Noble Cause pg. 2
Angelina Emily Grimke (1805-1879)
An Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States: Issued by an Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women Held by Adjournments from the 9th to the 12th of May, 1837.
Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1839.
Angelina and her sister Sarah spoke publically against slavery. The Grimke sisters were key in the developing women's rights movement from their work in the abolitionist movement as exemplified in this pamphlet.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834)
The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Margaret Chandler: with a Memoir of Her Life and Character, by Benjamin Lundy.
Philadelphia: Lemuel Howell, 1836.
Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834), author, poet and abolitionist, was 18 when her poem "The Slave Ship" won a literary prize and brought her to the attention of antislavery advocate Benjamin Lundy. She wrote for and edited the "Ladies' Repository" section of his newspaper, in which she addressed the issues of slavery, pacificism, and the mistreatment of Indians.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Maria Weston Chapman (1806-1885)
Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society; With a Concise Statement of Events Previous and Subsequent to the Annual meeting of 1835.
Boston: Published by the Society, 1836.
Written by Maria Weston Chapman, this is the second annual report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Pages 3 to 74 provide a detailed account of circumstances of the famous riots on October 21 at Garrison's anti-slavery rooms.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
The Star of Freedom.
New York: William S. Dorr, Printer, circa 1837.
First and only Edition of this anti-slavery book for children. It is mostly prose sketches and anecdotes, with some poetry written by women. The work emphasizes tolerance, equality and friendship between the black and white races, assistance to fugitives, care for African American orphans, and education for African American children.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Catharine Beecher (1800-1878)
An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, with References to the Duty of Females.
Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. Boston: Perkins & Marvin, 1837.
First edition stamped “Miss Beecher on the Slave Question.” Catharine Beecher was an educational reformer, and the elder sister of novelist and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe and half-sister of suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker. She broke with both her siblings in her response to slavery and women's rights.
This book was her first statement on the subject. In it she urged southern women to publicly commit themselves to ending slavery and advocated women staying "in their appropriate sphere" of home and hearth.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, A Native African and a Slave. Also, Poems by a Slave.
Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838.
Phillis Wheatley is considered the first black woman poet in America. This first edition is illustrated and includes the Memorial by Margaretta Matilda Odell, a descendant of the Wheatley family.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Samuel Webb, John Collins, Reuben S. Gilbert, John Sartain, John Archibald Woodside, John Greenleaf Whittier, and John Pierpont.
History of Pennsylvania Hall which was destroyed by a mob on the 17th of May, 1838.
Philadelphia: Printed by Merrihew and Gunn, 1838.
The riot at Pennsylvania Hall occurred at a time of backlash against abolitionism. Built in 1838 by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society as a meeting place for abolitionists, the hall was burned to the ground by anti-Black rioters three days after it opened.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Maria Chapman Weston (1806-1885)
"The Eleventh Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair."
Boston: [Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society], Feb. 8, 1844.
The broadside solicits the assistance of women throughout the state for the 1844 annual antislavery fair to take place the following December 24th: "If you wish slavery to cease, you cannot more effectually aid in its extinction, than by upholding this fair. The experience of ten years enables the women of Massachusetts to present it to you as an effectual channel, through which your sympathy may unite with that of others ...”
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Maria Chapman Weston (1806-1885)
The Liberty Bell by Friends of Freedom.
Boston: National Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1851.
Maria Weston Chapman was an abolitionist who helped found and lead the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1832. At the 1839 fair, she debuted The Liberty Bell, an annual gift book that she edited and published to be sold at the fairs. It contained poetry and essays by various authors on the antislavery theme. This 1851 edition contains pieces by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Martineau, Caroline Healey Dall, Caroline Weston, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, T. Wentworth Higginson and by Weston herself.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers
Maria Chapman Weston (1806-1885)
The Liberty Bell by Friends of Freedom.
Boston: National Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1852.
Maria Weston Chapman (1806-1885) was named to the executive board of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840 and helped to edit its newspaper, The Liberator. In 1844, she helped found and co-edit the Anti-Slavery Standard. This anthology contains pieces by Anne Warren Weston, David Lee Child, Harriet Martineau, Theodore Parker, Maria Lowell, Wendell Phillips, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, T. Wentworth Higginson and by Weston herself.
From the Helen LaKelly Hunt Collection of American Women Reformers and Writers