The Public Years of Sarah and Angelina Grimké: Selected Writings, 1835-1839

by Larry Ceplair, Angelina Grimké, Sarah Grimké

Book Overview

Sarah Moore Grimke and Angelina Emily Grimke were the first women in America coming from a southern slave-holding family to speak publicly on behalf of the abolition of slavery.Creating a stir of controversy soon afterwards during the 1830s especially with the force of their testimony before the Massachusetts State Legislature, they soon found themselves defending publicly and at length the right of women to speak on moral and political issues and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231068018
• ISBN13: 9780231068017
• Release Date: October 1989
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Prophetic words

Angelina and Sarah Grimke were born into a large, Southern, slaveholding family. They were, according to Ceplair's essay, the first women of a slaveholding family to speak in favour of Abolition. From the letters and other documents of the sisters, it is apparent that this was not the general family view, and the sisters confided in at least one other sibling that when they were old enough, they would leave the South. Indeed, after having left the South, the mayor of Charleston warned the Grimkes' mother that they should not presume to return to the city, given their active campaigning in the Abolitionist cause. From their early days, the sisters had determined spirits. Angelina refused to be confirmed in their family church (Episcopal), and eventually married without clergy present; by this time Angelina had become a Quaker, but was expelled for marrying outside the faith, and her sister Sarah was expelled for attending the wedding. Southern women, according to Ceplair, were not trained or expected to be radical feminists or courageous heroines. The sisters, sometimes serving as each other's only support, set out on a public campaign for Abolition, and not only for Abolition, but for immediate Abolition. Angelina did not credit herself, and certainly not her family, for her awakening to the Abolitionist cause, but rather quoting the Bible, declared that 'it was the Lord's doing, and marvellous in mine eyes.' The 'public years' of the Grimke sisters were few in number - their very active period is only four years as collected here; the Grimke sisters remained teachers, occasional letter writers and attended some public events after this time, but the period from 1835-1839 is the pivot period in their prophetic ministry, and this is the time Ceplair focusses upon in the documents and narrative. The Grimke sisters were Abolitionists who pressed for immediate action, often alienating supporters and opposition alike in their adamant demand for action. The Grimkes used the Bible in a new way - slaves were often taught the injunctions about 'slaves, obey your masters'; however, Angelina Grimke found that the Bible made no distinction between the races, and that all human beings were created in the image of God, and none were given a natural lordship or dominion over any other. The sisters saw slavery as being criminal, and an ongoing crime at that, that must be stopped. Angelina likened slavery to kidnapping, only worse. The action and witness of the Grimke sisters came from their recognition that the wrongs being perpetrated were against human beings, and not as simple abuses of property. She was distressed at the treatment of slaves, often with outlandish justifications. One story recounted here is the Grimkes' reaction to hearing of a slave child's death - the concern for the child, or her parents' distress, was of no concern to the Southern slave owner, who was only concerned at his loss of property. This kind of mistreatment