Historical

The first national act against slavery was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 when it was prohibited north of the Ohio River. In the U.S. Constitution, slave imports were prohibited beginning in 1807. The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1833 to reach audiences through lecturing agents, petition drives, and printed materials. The Liberator and The National Anti-Slavery Standard were the official newspapers of the organization.

At first, women were barred from membership, which led to the creation of Female Anti-Slavery Societies. Opponents tried to suppress the anti-slavery agitation and propaganda by rulings of the church and the state, and even by mob violence. By 1840 there were 2,000 chapters of the American Anti-Slavery Society throughout the North.

The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1833 as an abolitionist group that championed racial and sexual equity. The society's first meeting took place in a schoolroom in Philadelphia. Their constitution stated slavery and prejudice were contrary to the laws of God and the Declaration of Independence.

Of the 42 charter members, nine were black. In 1837, Grace Douglas and Sarah Forten joined their white colleagues to form a board of managers to raise money and coordinate fairs for emancipation. The women provided money to support a school for black girls. They also worked with Robert Purvis by donating money to clothe, feed, and transport slaves fleeing the South. The last meeting was on March 21, 1870 after the ratification of the post-Civil War constitutional amendments.

The Liberator (1831-1865) was the most widely circulated anti-slavery newspaper during the antebellum period and throughout the Civil War. It was published and edited in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, a leading white abolitionist and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Over the three decades of its publication, The Liberator denounced anything that would prolong slavery, including the United States Constitution. Garrison’s condemnation of the Constitution eventually led to a split with Frederick Douglass. The Liberator, whose readership was predominantly free blacks in the northern states, officially ended its run in 1865 when the Civil War ended.

The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women would start in the new Pennsylvania Hall on Monday, May 14, 1838. The convention took place just days after construction was complete. It was an interracial gathering of 203 delegates from northern towns and cities. There were rumors that the convention was promoting “amalgamation.”

By Wednesday, men started shouting, smashing windows, and assaulting colored people. On Thursday night, the mob swelled to thousands. Men smashed Pennsylvania Hall’s doors with axes, then piled up wooden benches, opened the gas jets, and lit fires. When flames roared through the building, the mob blocked the fire trucks.