On this day in labor history, the year was 1805.
That was the day abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Angelina Grimke was born.
Her parents were slaveholders and among the wealthiest in Charleston, South Carolina.
As a young woman, she denounced slavery and together with her sister, Sarah, moved north to Philadelphia to join the Quakers.
There she became a teacher but grew frustrated with how the Quakers approached abolitionism.
She quickly gravitated towards radical abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and became active in the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.
She became prominent in abolitionist circles in 1835 after Garrison published her letter condemning pro-slavery riots in Boston.
The next year, she published an open letter to Southern women demanding they condemn the institution of slavery.
Angelina and Sarah embarked on abolitionist speaking tours and the organizing of women’s anti-slavery societies.
Having grown up in the South, the Grimke sisters held an especial authority among Northern abolitionists.
They could testify to the severity and inhumanity of the slave system.
They did so in the book, American Slavery As It Is, written together with Angelina’s husband abolitionist Theodore Weld.
Controversy intensified against Angelina and her sister as their popularity grew.
Religious leaders and abolitionists alike bristled at the idea of women engaged in public speaking and political work.
Undeterred, the sisters defended their right to be on equal footing with men in the abolitionist movement.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sister, Catherine, a leading educator, was among those who decried women’s public activism.
Angelina responded that all humans are moral beings worthy of human rights, regardless of gender.
Her response served as an early contribution to the women’s rights movement in the 19th century.
February 7 - Strike at Cripple Creek
February 6 - Philly Garment Workers Win!
February 5 - The Fight for Craft Governance
February 4 - Solidarity on the Coast
February 3 - Anti-Trust Injunctions Used Against Labor
February 2 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
February 1 - A Pivotal Moment in the Flint Sit-Down
January 31 - The Big Easy Fires 7000 Teachers
January 30 - Fred Korematsu Day
January 29 - Bread & Roses Striker, Anna LoPizzo, Shot Dead
January 28 - The 1917 Bath Riots
January 27 - Bans on Yellow Dog Contracts Ruled Unconstitutional
January 26 - Sid Hatfield Stands Trial
January 25 - Solidarity Works!
January 24 - Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is Born
January 23 - If Poison Doesn’t Work, Try Briggs!
January 22 - Tragedy in the Mines & in the Union Hall
January 21 - On Strike for Health & Dignity
January 20 - The Flint Womens Emergency Brigades
January 19 - A Snapshot in Misery
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