Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society
Encyclopedia
The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (1833-1840) was an abolitionist
, interracial organization in Boston
, Massachusetts
, in the mid-19th century. "During its brief history ... it orchestrated three national women's conventions, organized a multistate petition campaign, sued southerners who brought slaves into Boston, and sponsored elaborate, profitable fundraisers."
"In their early correspondence with other female antislavery societies, BFASS members admitted that an "astonishing apathy" about slavery and race matters had "prevailed" among them. After concluding that such complacency "cannot be desired," they committed themselves to "sleep no more" now that the "long, dark night is rapidly receding, the light of truth has unsealed our eyes, and fallen upon our hearts, [and] awakened our slumbering energies." ... The establishment of BFASS marks a dramatic upsurge in women's activity within Boston's abolitionist movement."
In 1836 the Society joined with other groups in suing for habeas corpus
in the "freedom suit" known as Commonwealth v. Aves. They sought freedom for the young slave girl Med whose mistress had brought her to Boston from New Orleans on a trip. The court decided in favor of the slave's freedom and made Med a ward of the court. The decision caused an uproar in the South and added to tensions over slaveholders' travel to free states, as well as the hardening of positions in the years leading up to the Civil War. It was the first case in which a slave was determined to be free soon after being brought voluntarily to a free state.
In 1837, leaders of the society included Lucy M. Ball, Martha Violet Ball, Mary G. Chapman, Eunice Davis, Mary S. Parker, Sophia Robinson, Henrietta Sargent, T. Southwick, Catherine M. Sullivan, Anne Warren Weston, Caroline Weston, and Maria Weston Chapman
. Other affiliates of the society included Mary Grew, Joshua V. Himes, Francis Jackson
, Maria White Lowell
, Harriet Martineau
, Abby Southwick, Baron Stow, Mrs. George Thompson
.
Infighting and factionalism characterized the society after a few years. "Within 7 short years, BFASS had risen to national prominence, only to dissolve amid confusion, acrimony, and ... bitterness."
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
, interracial organization in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, in the mid-19th century. "During its brief history ... it orchestrated three national women's conventions, organized a multistate petition campaign, sued southerners who brought slaves into Boston, and sponsored elaborate, profitable fundraisers."
History
The founders believed "slavery to be a direct violation of the laws of God, and productive of a vast amount of misery and crime, and convinced that its abolition can only be effected by an acknowledgement of the justice and necessity of immediate emancipation." The society aimed to "aid and assist in this righteous cause as far as lies within our power. ... Its funds shall be appropriated to the dissemination of truth on the subject of slavery, and the improvement of the moral and intellectual character of the colored population." The group was independent of state and national organizations."In their early correspondence with other female antislavery societies, BFASS members admitted that an "astonishing apathy" about slavery and race matters had "prevailed" among them. After concluding that such complacency "cannot be desired," they committed themselves to "sleep no more" now that the "long, dark night is rapidly receding, the light of truth has unsealed our eyes, and fallen upon our hearts, [and] awakened our slumbering energies." ... The establishment of BFASS marks a dramatic upsurge in women's activity within Boston's abolitionist movement."
In 1836 the Society joined with other groups in suing for habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
in the "freedom suit" known as Commonwealth v. Aves. They sought freedom for the young slave girl Med whose mistress had brought her to Boston from New Orleans on a trip. The court decided in favor of the slave's freedom and made Med a ward of the court. The decision caused an uproar in the South and added to tensions over slaveholders' travel to free states, as well as the hardening of positions in the years leading up to the Civil War. It was the first case in which a slave was determined to be free soon after being brought voluntarily to a free state.
In 1837, leaders of the society included Lucy M. Ball, Martha Violet Ball, Mary G. Chapman, Eunice Davis, Mary S. Parker, Sophia Robinson, Henrietta Sargent, T. Southwick, Catherine M. Sullivan, Anne Warren Weston, Caroline Weston, and Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston or Maria Weston Chapman was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery journal, Non-Resistant.-Family:Weston was born in 1806 in Weymouth,...
. Other affiliates of the society included Mary Grew, Joshua V. Himes, Francis Jackson
Francis Jackson (abolitionist)
Francis Jackson was an abolitionist in Boston, Massachusetts. He was affiliated with the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Boston Vigilance Committee...
, Maria White Lowell
Maria White Lowell
Maria White Lowell was an American poet and abolitionist.-Life and career:Maria was born in Watertown, Massachusetts to a middle-class intellectual family...
, Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau was an English social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist....
, Abby Southwick, Baron Stow, Mrs. George Thompson
George Thompson (abolitionist)
George Donisthorpe Thompson was a British antislavery orator and activist who worked toward the abolition of slavery through lecture tours and legislation while serving as a Member of Parliament...
.
Infighting and factionalism characterized the society after a few years. "Within 7 short years, BFASS had risen to national prominence, only to dissolve amid confusion, acrimony, and ... bitterness."
Further reading
- Report of the Boston Female Anti Slavery Society, 1836.
- Annual report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1837.
- Maria Weston Chapman. Right and wrong in Massachusetts, Boston : Dow & Jackson’s Anti-slavery Press, 1839. Relates to dissensions in the Massachusetts anti-slavery society, 1837-1839.
- Harriet Martineau. Review of "Right and wrong in Boston in 1835-37": the annual reports of the Boston female anti-slavery society. Originally published in the London and Westminster Review, reprinted in The Martyr Age of the United States, Boston: Weeks, Jordan & Co., 1839.
- Debra Gold Hansen, Strained Sisterhood: Gender and Class in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993)
- Debra Gold Hansen, "The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and the Limits of Gender Politics.", in Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women’s Political Culture in Antebellum America, editors, Jean Fagan Yellin and John C. Van Horne, Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1994, pp. 45-66.
- Constance W. Hassett. "Siblings and Antislavery: The Literary and Political Relations of Harriet Martineau, James Martineau, and Maria Weston Chapman", Signs, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter, 1996), pp. 374-409.
External links
- Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society Constitution (1835), Society for the Study of American Women Writers, Lehigh University