American Women and the Abolitionist Movement
American women had a significant impact on the abolitionist movement. Female abolitionists, in fact, became the leaders of the nationÆs first feminist movement and were instrumental in organizing the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. Lucy Stone and Maria Stewart were prominent abolitionist speakers, and autobiographies of fugitive slaves such as Ellen Craft were circulated widely in support of the abolitionist movement (Stewart). Lydia Maria Child was a white anti-slavery writer and activist who produced The Anti-Slavery Standard as well as a childrenÆs magazine. A champion of racial and gender equality as well as interracial marriage and abolition, she worked to promote the purchase of items made by free labor as opposed to those produced by slave labor. Mary Ann Shadd, born to free African-American parents who were active abolitionists, wrote about the anti-slavery movement and conducted an anti-slavery lecture tour (ôOther Abolitionists).
Harriet Tubman was one of the most well-known former slaves who ran the Underground Railroad. She had obtained her freedom by marrying a free black man, but her desire to help her fellow slaves was not diminished by her own good fortune. Through the Underground Railroad, Tubman effected the rescue of over 300 slavesùincluding her own 70-year-old parentsùand devised clever subterfuges for concealing her activities. By leaving on a Saturday night, she could stall search actions that would not commence until runaway notices were placed in the newspapers on Monday morning. To keep weary or chickenhearted fugitives from turning back, she carried a gun which she would pull on them, threatening, ôYouÆll be free or die.ö Wanted posters advertising a $40,000 reward for her capture made TubmanÆs efforts even more dangerous, but her quick thinking saved her from disaster. Once she overheard some men reading her wanted poster, which mentioned ...