Grimke Sisters

The Grimke Sisters, Sarah Grimke (1792 - 1873) and Angelina Grimke Weld (1805 - 1879), were 19th Century Quakers, educators and writers who were early advocates of abolitionism and women's rights.

Social Activism

In 1829 Angelina wrote a letter to the editor of William Lloyd Garrison's paper, The Liberator, which he published without her knowledge. Immediately both sisters were rebuked by the Quaker community and sought out by the abolitionist movement. The sisters had to choose: recant and become members in good standing in the Quaker community or actively work to oppose slavery. They choose the latter course.

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Alice Rossi says that this choice "seemed to free both sisters for a rapidly escalating awareness of the many restrictions upon their lives. Their physical and intellectual energies were soon fully expanded, as though they and their ideas had been suddenly released after a long period of germination." Abolitionist Theodore Weld, later Angelina's husband, trained them to be abolition speakers. Contact with like-minded individuals for the first time in their lives enlivened the sisters.

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Sarah was rebuked again in 1836 by Quakers when she tried to discuss abolition in a meeting. The sisters began speaking in private homes to members of the abolition movement about the horrors of slavery. Eventually, at the request of the abolitionist movement, they began to speak publicly about their personal experiences and knowledge of slavery. They were among the first women to speak publicly in the United States and, given the controversial nature of their subject, they drew intense criticism. They came to understand that women were oppressed and without power and that, without power, women could not address or right the wrongs of society. Such an understanding made these women into ardent feminists.

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Angelina wrote her first tract, "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836)," to encourage southern women to join the abolitionist movement for the sake of white womenhood as well as black slaves. To her mind, slavery harmed white womanhood by destroying the institution of marriage when white men fathered their slaves' children. To publicly discuss such a delicate subject caused an uproar. The sisters created more controversy when Sarah published "Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States (1836)" and Angelina republished an "Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States" in 1837. In 1837 they went on a tour of Congregationalist churches in the north east. In addition to denouncing slavery, an acceptable practice in radical circles, the sisters denounced race prejudice. Further, they argued that (white) women had a natural bond with female, black slaves. These last two ideas were extreme even for radical abolitionists. Their public speaking for the abolitionist cause continued to draw criticism, each attack making the Grimke sisters more determined. Responding to an attack by Catherine Beecher on her public speaking, Angelina wrote a series of letters to Beecher, later published with the title "Letters to Catherine Beecher." She staunchly defended the abolitionist cause and her right to publicly speak for that cause. By the end of the year, the sisters were being denounced from Congregationalist pulpits. The following year Sarah responded to the ministers' attacks by writing a series of letters addressed to the President of the abolitionist society which sponsored their speeches. These became known as "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes," in which she defended women's right to the public platform. By 1838, thousands of people flocked to hear their Boston lecture series.

Related Topics:
Congregationalist - Catherine Beecher - Boston

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Neither Sarah nor Angelina initially sought to become feminists, but felt the role was forced onto them. Devoutly religious, these Quaker converts' works are predominantly religious in nature with strong biblical arguments. Indeed, both their abolitionist sentiments and their feminism sprang from deeply held religious convictions. Their works should be of interest to all feminist Christian theologians. Both Sarah, who eventually emphasized feminism over abolitionism, and Angelina, who remained primarily interested in the abolitionist movement, were powerful writers. They neatly summarized the abolitionist arguments which would eventually lead to the Civil War. Sarah's work deserves much greater recognition than it has received as she addressed many issues familiar to the modern feminist movement over 150 years ago.

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