Angelina Emily Grimké (1805–1879) was an American abolitionist and suffragist. Angelina was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to John Faucheraud Grimké, an aristocratic Episcopalian judge who owned slaves. She was very close to her sister Sarah Moore Grimké.

Despite the influence of their father, both sisters became abolitionists and joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Philadelphia. In 1835, Angelina wrote an anti-slavery letter to Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, who published it in The Liberator. When her anti-slavery "An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South" was published in 1836, it was publicly burned in South Carolina, and she and her sister were threatened with arrest if they ever returned to their native state. At this point, Angelina and Sarah began to speak out against slavery in public. They were among the first women in the United States to break out of their designated private spheres; this made them somewhat of a curiosity. Angelina was invited to be the first woman to speak at the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1837.

In 1838, the Grimké sisters gave a series of well-attended lectures in Boston. The same year, Angelina married the famous abolitionist and suffragist Theodore Weld. Although she had hoped to continue her work for the abolitionist cause, in 1839 Angelina eventually gave up public speaking to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother^[1]. Sarah moved in with her and also retired from public life. Still, both sisters remained privately active as abolitionists and suffragists and also came to operate a boarding school. There they taught the children of several noted abolitionists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They were even responsible for the advanced education of the three black sons of Henry Grimke (1801-1852), who was their brother. The sisters paid for Archibald Henry Grimke and Rev. Francis Grimke to attend Harvard. Archibald became a lawyer and later an ambassador to Haiti and Francis became a Presbyterian minister.

References

• Lerner, Gerda, The Grimke Sisters From South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition. New York, Schocken Books, 1971 and The University of North Carolina Press, Cary, North Carolina, 1998. ISBN 0195106032

External links

• An article from Cyberspacei.com
• An entry from the Columbia Encyclopedia
• Robert K. Nelson, "'The forgetfulness of sexy big bahhhhhs': Devotion and Desire in the Courtship Letters of Angelina Grimké and Theodore Dwight Weld," Journal of Social History 37 (Spring 2004): 663-679.
• Works by Angelina Grimké at Project Gutenberg

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