Angelina Grimke

Angelina Grimke was born on February 20, 1805 in Charleston, South Carolina. She was an abolitionist and advocate of women’s rights. Angelina and her older sister Sarah were daughters of a prominent South Carolina judge and plantation owner. The sisters often witnessed the suffering of slaves and were determined to speak out. They were eventually forced to move to the North, where they continued to appeal to northerners and southerners to work toward abolition.

In 1836 Angelina wrote a letter against slavery to William Loyd Garrison, which he published in his newspaper, The Liberator. She followed this with the pamphlet, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, which called for Christian Women of the South to join the anti-slavery cause. Officials in South Carolina publicly burned the pamphlet and the sisters were warned that they would be arrested if they ever returned home.

Invited to speak to female audiences, the Grimke sisters became the first and only women among the forty trained agents in the anti-slavery movement. The sisters began speaking around New York City and the audience was opened up to both sexes. Angelina developed into an orator of considerable power and in 1837 was invited to lecture in Massachusetts.

The Grimke sisters were pioneering women. Among the first female abolitionists, they were the first women to speak publicly against slavery. Faced with criticism from clergy and others that they were threatening "the female character," they continued their crusade. In 1838, Angelina became the first woman to address a legislative body when she spoke to the Massachusetts State Legislature on women's rights and abolition.

Active in the women's movement, the Grinke sisters helped set the agenda and paved the way for Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and others, calling for equal educational opportunities and the vote. Angelina’s life work was spent opposing prejudice, discrimination and oppression based on the philosophy of nonviolence. She promoted understanding, and mutual respect among all people through her writing and courageous spirit. The presence of the Grimke sisters on the public platform inspired a new generation of women to speak in public and to assert women’s presence in public life.

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