Charlotte Forten Grimké

Charlotte Forten Bridges Grimké (17 August 1837–1914) was an American antislavery activist, poet, educator and abolitionist.

Related Topics:
17 August - 1837 - 1914 - American - Poet - Educator - Abolitionist

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Charlotte Bridges was a member of the prominent black Forten-Purvis family. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Robert Bridges and Mary Woods Forten. Bridges and his brother in law, Robert Purvis were abolitionists and members of the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee, an antislavery, slave assistance network. Mary Forten Bridges, the daughter of Philidelphia abolitionist James Forten, Sr., worked in the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.

Related Topics:
Philadelphia - Pennsylvania - Robert Purvis - James Forten

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In 1854, Bridges attended the Higginson Grammar School. She was the only non-white student out of a class of 200. Known for emphasis in critical thinking, the school focused on studying history, geography, drawing and cartography. After Higginson, she studied literature and teaching at the Normal School in Salem. Bridges cited Shakespeare, Milton, Margaret Fuller and William Wordsworth as some of her favorites.

Related Topics:
Shakespeare - Milton - Margaret Fuller - William Wordsworth

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Bridges became a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, where she was involved in networking and money raising, and proved to be influential as an activist and leader of civil rights. She occasionally spoke in public on abolitionist issues and arranged for the lectures of prominent speakers and writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Senator Charles Sumner. Bridges was acquainted with many other anti-slavery proponents including William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the Liberator; Wendell Phillips, and the orators and activists Maria Weston Chapman and William Wells Brown.

Related Topics:
Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Charles Sumner - William Lloyd Garrison - Wendell Phillips - Maria Weston Chapman - William Wells Brown

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In 1856 finances forced Bridges into taking a teaching position at Epes Grammar School in Salem. She was well received as a teacher, but returned to Philidelphia after two years due to tuberculosis. At this point, Bridges began producing poetry, much of which was activist in theme, and was published in The Liberator and Anglo African magazines. She became the first black teacher involved in the Civil War's Sea Islands mission. In South Carolina, she touched many students and thoroughly enjoyed her work. She chronicled this time in her essays, "Life on the Sea Islands" which were published in Atlantic Monthly in the May and June issues of 1864. In the late 1860s Bridges worked for the U.S. Treasury Department recruiting teachers. On July 3, 1873 she became a clerk at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Related Topics:
1856 - Salem - Tuberculosis - The Liberator - Anglo African - South Carolina - Atlantic Monthly - 1860s - U.S. Treasury Department

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In December 1878, when she was 41, Bridges married Presbyterian minister Francis J. Grimké, the nephew of social activists Sarah and Angelina Grimke. In 1880, they had one daughter, Theodora Cornelia, who died as an infant. Grimké then helped her husband in his ministry at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., organized a women's missionary group and continued her civil rights efforts.

Related Topics:
Presbyterian - Sarah and Angelina Grimke - Washington, D.C.

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Grimké's last literary effort was in response to an Evangelist editorial, "Relations of Blacks and Whites: Is There a Color Line in New England?" which asserted that Blacks were not prejudiced against in New England society. She stated that Black Americans achieved over extraordinary social odds and simply wanted fair and respectful treatment.

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