Ask Americans with an interest in their country’s pre-Civil War history to name a famous abolitionist, you’ll likely hear of William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, John Quincy Adams, John Brown or Abraham Lincoln. We should get to know the women who championed an end to slavery too. There were many, and I have my favorites to tell you about here.
The very first African American woman to deliver anti-slavery lectures in public was free-born Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879). By the social conventions of her day, women weren’t supposed to take on such controversial issues, let alone do so in plain view of an audience. It’s also to her credit that she is believed to be the first American female to speak to public gatherings of both men and women, white and black. Her speeches and writings are as inspiring today as they were 180 years ago.