Grimké Sisters, American antislavery crusaders and women’s rights advocates

Grimké Sisters, American antislavery crusaders

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• Angelina and Sarah Grimké.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; neg. no. LC USZ 61 1609

Sarah Grimké (in full Sarah Moore Grimké; b. Nov. 26, 1792, Charleston, S.C., U.S.—d. Dec. 23, 1873, Hyde Park, Mass.) and her sister Angelina Grimké (in full Angelina Emily Grimké; b. Feb. 20, 1805, Charleston, S.C., U.S.—d. Oct. 26, 1879, Hyde Park, Mass.) were Southern-born and early developed an antipathy toward both slavery and the limitations on the rights of women. 

Sarah, who had objected to the rather superficial education made available to her, made a number of visits to Philadelphia, where she became acquainted with the Society of Friends; at length, in 1821, she became a member and left her Southern home permanently. Angelina followed in 1829 and also became a Quaker. 

In 1835 Angelina wrote a letter of approval to William Lloyd Garrison that he subsequently published in his abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. From that time on, the sisters were deeply involved in the abolition movement, with Angelina always taking the lead. In 1836 she wrote a pamphlet, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, in which she urged those addressed to use their moral force against slavery. 

Sarah followed with An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States. The sisters’ public identification with the abolitionist cause rendered them anathema in their native city and state and even strained their Quaker friendships.

Under the auspices of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the Grimké sisters began to address small groups of women in private homes; this practice grew naturally into appearances before large mixed audiences. 

The General Association of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts issued a pastoral letter in July 1837 strongly denouncing women preachers and reformers, and the sisters thereafter found it necessary to crusade equally for women’s rights. 

Their lectures at Odeon Hall, Boston, in the spring of 1838 attracted thousands. There followed Angelina’s Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States (1837) and Sarah’s Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1838). 

In 1838 Angelina married the abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld. After collaborating with Weld-on Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839), the sisters retired from public activity. They assisted in Weld’s school in Belleville and later Perth Amboy, N.J., in 1848–62. 

In 1863 the three moved to West Newton, Mass., and in 1864 they moved to their last home, in what is now Boston.