Grimke

Sisters
Zineb Ouachtouki
Courtney Britt
Abigail Sohklet

background.
Sarah Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina
Grimke Weld (1805-1879) were two early
and prominent activists for abolition and
womens rights.

The sisters grew up in a wealthy slaveholding South Carolina family. They had all
the privileges of Charleston society, but
grew to strongly disapprove of slavery.

sister, sister.
Angelina was by instinct a woman of action
who was always ready to make a forceful
case.
Sarah, the older sister, had a scholar's
bent, with a judicious mind. She was a
deeply spiritual person and was much
more quiet than Angelina.

new life!
Their experiences led them to reject slavery, move to
Philadelphia, and convert to Quakerism.

Once they arrived in Philadelphia, Angelina joined the

Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and wrote
letters to newspapers protesting slavery from a
womans point of view.

oops...
Slowly, the two sisters found themselves growing more
uncertain of the Quaker restrictions, and began looking for
new ways to be useful.

The Quakers rejected the Grimkes.

The sisters decided to then move to New York

to work for the Anti-Slavery Society.

success!
In New York, the sisters helped organize the New York AntiSlavery Convention of American Women.
In 1837, they went on tour throughout several Northern
cities giving talks to packed audiences full of both men and
women.

let the tour begin!

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let the tour begin!

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Were back, New York!

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Dang Grimkes,
Back at it again with a tour!

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haters gonna hate.

Congregational Churches issued a Pastoral Letter warning
their congregations of the dangers which at present seem
to threaten the female character with widespread and
permanent injury and called women to remember their
appropriate duties and influence as clearly stated in the
New Testament

go, Angelina!
Back in New York, Angelina had wrote Appeal
to the Christian Women of the South .

yikes...
Her work started to spark attention from
people and eventually made its way back to
their hometown.

seriously, Catherine?
Catherine Beecher criticized Appeal to the Christian
Women of the South.

Beecher advocated gradualism instead of

immediate emancipation, and also called
women to remember their subordinate role in
society.

She said what, Sarah?! Oh nah!

Angelina quickly responded to Catherine by
publishing Letters to Catherine Beecher,

Catherine, I wasnt gonna say anything, but

I just find it funny how...
Sarah also decided to respond to Catherine with Letters on
the Equality of the Sexes.

First of all..
First, Sarah argued against the notion that women were
subordinate to men by Gods decree.

And secondly
Sarah also argued to get rid off the concept of separate
spheres of influence for men and women.

ANYWAY- back to the tour.

On July 17, two young men challenged Angelina to a debate over
slavery and over womens right to a public voice.
It was the first public debate of this type between a man and a
woman.

Angelina shooooowed them!

Eyewitnesses described Angelinas performance:

every tour comes to an end...

The sisters continued to tour and England crowds flocked to hear the Grimkes
throughout August, September, and October.

By the end of the fall, Angelina was gravely ill, weakened by emotional as well as
physical fatigue. The tour finally came to an end.

Angelina is back!
A few months later, on May 16, 1838 at a gathering of
abolitionists in Philadelphia, Angelina Grimke gave a
powerful anti-slavery speech in Pennsylvania Hall.

As a Southerner, I feel that it is my duty to

stand up here to-night and bear testimony
against slavery. I have seen it! I have seen it! I
know it has horrors that can never be
described. I was brought up under its wing. I
witnessed for many years its demoralizing
influences and its destructiveness to human
happiness. I have never seen a happy slave
- Angelina Grimke, Philadelphia Convention

well that escalated quickly...

During her speech, a mob attacked the building with rocks and bricks.
Angelina Grimkes career as an anti-slavery speaker ended that night
in Philadelphia.

The end.
But she and Theodore continued to write,
producing American Slavery As It Is in 1839, a
documentary account of the evils of the Southern
labor system.

Just kidding, there's more.

Over the next few decades, the Grimke sisters and Weld
would earn a modest living as teachers, often in schools that
Weld established. All three kept abreast of political
developments and attended anti-slavery meetings.

Okay, no really- this is the end.

Sarah Grimke died at the age of 81 in December of 1873. Angelina,
who had been paralyzed for several years because of strokes, died
on October 26, 1879. Theodore Weld survived until 1895.

In 1863, Angelina had written: I want to be identified with the

negro; until he gets his rights, we shall never have ours.

Video

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