Becoming a Public Abolitionist
Abolition began to replace Angelina’s need for organized religion. She “felt
it a religious duty” to fight slavery (Birney 149). Angelina’s first step
into public abolition, via her letter to William Lloyd Garrison, was an
unexpected one. In it she praised and encouraged him to keep up the fight for
slavery (South Carolina 123-24). After she had removed herself from the
Quakers, she was invited to New York to write and advertise for the American
Anti-Slavery Society (Birney 157). The first public meeting in America held for
women and by women was the inaugural meeting of the Female Anti-Slavery Society.
It was held in a church with Angelina and her sister being the primary speakers
(Birney 162-64). She forged new paths for women in public speaking by touring
the country, the first American woman to do so (Struggle Against 277).
This had the effect of causing the Quakers to refuse allowing abolitionists to
speak at their meetings (South Carolina 172). Angelina’s new
move onto the public reform stage was to cause massive ripples in America’s
beliefs.
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Last updated March 2, 2001