Sarah Grimke

Sarah Grimke was among many others who fought for the African Americans freedom in the United States. Sarah along with her sister Angelina both grew up in a home where their father owned slaves. Sarah was born on November 26, 1792 in Charleston, South Carolina. The sisters built an early dislike of slavery. In 1819 the sisters moved to Philadelphia where they joined the society of friends once known as the Friends of truth. Angelina had a letter against slavery published in 1835 by William Lloyd Garrison and put in his newspaper the liberator. An Appeal to the Christian women of the south was pamphlet she also had published after the letter was. Sarah also sent in a pamphlet after her sister had done so, An epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States. After the publicity of these pamphlets and letter they were burned in public by South Carolina officials. Sarah and Angelina were told never to return home and if they were they would be arrested. The sisters moved to New York after being forced out of Philadelphia. They became the first women to lecture for the Anti-Slavery Society. They were attacked by religious leaders who did not approve of women speaking in public. Torn by these actions of the religious leaders she wrote that men were attempting to "drive women from almost every sphere of moral action. The sisters refused to give up on what had already been started, so they became pioneers in the struggle for women rights. The first Anti-Slavery Society in New York was established by Arthur and Lewis Tappan in 1831. In 1833 it became a national organization. William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Weld were among many of the main people in the organization. The organization got most of its support from religious leaders, like the Quakers, also for the black communities. Gradually other women followed Sarah and Angelina's path and joined the Anti-Slavery Society. This society had organized meetings, the had times set fro signing petitions, the had anti