The Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society
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The Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society (founded 1837) was a female abolitionist organisation in Concord, Massachusetts, in the mid 19th century. This society was a significant influence on Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Louisa May Alcott.
The town of Concord, Massachusetts, was founded in 1635 by a group of English settlers, with the help of their slaves to build the foundation of the town.[1] During the early 1830s Concord, like most other cities in North America, was largely pro-slavery with only a small amount of the 2000-person population in support of abolitionism.[2] By 1839 Massachusetts hosted over 240 local anti-slavery societies, despite Concord having no official abolitionist efforts before 1833.[3] The black population of Concord never rose above 3% (Lemire, 9) and was estimated to be only 1% in the early 1830s.[4]
In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law was introduced, requiring that escaped slaves be returned to their masters.[5] The law still applied to slaves who were in a ‘free state'. This Law saw an increase in support for abolitionism. Many Concord residents housed and provided support to fugitive slaves.[5] A Concord local, Ann Bigelow stated that fugitive slaves were being hidden nearly every week during the 1850s. Abby and Amos Alcott (parents of Louisa May Alcott) as well as the Thoreau and Brooks' households assisted in housing fugitive slaves.[5]
Emergence of abolitionism
The Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society (CFASS) was founded officially in 1837, however there is a longer history to abolitionism in Massachusetts.[6] A man who went by the name "Felix", possibly an enslaved person working for Mary and Abia Holbrook, was the first black individual to successfully lobby the local government in Boston to question slavery in Massachusetts and in the country.[7] In 1773, Felix's petition was printed in "The Appendix; Or, Some Observations on the Expediency of the Petitions of the Africans, living in Boston".[7] The Petition of 6 January 1773 was called by Felix a "humble petition" which confronted executive and legislative bodies in Boston, and he put forward the petition on behalf of enslaved people living in Boston and "other towns".[8] This petition brought attention to abolitionism which eventually manifested in more abolitionist movements in Massachusetts and slavery's abolition in December 1865.[9] The conditions for activism and social change became stronger with the colonist's escalating conflict with England during the 1770s, combined with the cumulative frustration of enslaved people as slavery had expanded in Massachusetts between the 1720s and 1760s.[10] Throughout the 1770s activism took more footholds in society as enslaved and free black Americans along with white abolitionists started petitions, asserted their rights and defined their conditions, wrote letters and enacted change and traction regarding abolition. By 1775 The African Lodge, a branch of Freemasonry established by Prince Hall and 14 other free black men became the oldest black institution in America. In 1829 The African Lodge aided the black activist David Walker in while he was living in Boston, Massachusetts. This is where he published his "An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World", which called for black unity, equality and the fight against slavery.[11] This document was critical to the anti-slavery, abolitionist and black empowerment movement in Massachusetts and in America. The CFASS was founded seven years after Walker's Appeal.
Women in abolitionism
For women, abolitionism was a religious issue, and their involvement was based within the traditional view of women as more pious and responsible as moral arbiters.[12] Female abolitionists saw slavery as "a sin that, as women, they had a moral and religious duty to eradicate.[13] The Evangelical Revivalism of the 2nd Great Awakening saw people as capable of working for their own salvation, and the "moral perfection" of society.[14] Abolitionism was one of many social reform movements that emerged out of this, in which women had prominent roles.[15] Women's public abolitionism was controversial, and the General Association of Massachusetts Congregational Churches criticised their involvement as "obtrusive and ostentatious."[16] Mary Brooks saw abolitionism as a religious issue, stating in 1843 that the founding of the society would help turn "our world of sin and misery into a world of purity, holiness, and happiness."[2]
The Concord Freeman encouraged women's involvement in abolitionism as men had "faltered... in their duty."[17] Mary Brooks echoed this, stating that God "had placed this cause... in the hands of women."[18] Women's involvement, due to their perceived virtue, helped legitimise abolitionism.[19] Women's involvement also turned abolitionism into a mass movement.[20] In 1837 and 1838, 340 women signed memorials to congress against slavery compared with 130 men.[21]
The abolitionist movement served as a way for women to overcome the social obstacles that saw women's roles as domestic.[22] Abolitionism justified a political identity through the language of female religious duty.[22][13]
Activities
Robert Gross states that women were "the foot soldiers of reform," in abolitionism.[23] Women sponsored speakers, disseminated anti-slavery publications, and engaged in petitioning.[24] They hosted fairs that turned their domestic work into abolitionist work, and raised funds for abolitionism.[25][26] Women were also engaged with other anti-slavery organisations, and attended national anti-slavery conventions.[27] Some women, wrote for anti-slavery newspapers, often anonymously, the CFASS annual reports were also published in The Liberator.[28][29][30][31] People in Concord also participated in the underground railroad.[32] During the Civil War they supported the war effort, and after the war they went "door to door" to get relief for the newly freed African American population.[33]