Grimke Sisters Timeline

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Images Timeline

The Grimké Sisters

Bio

The beginning of Sarah's fight

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1810s

1829

1835

1836

1837

Images Timeline

The Grimké Sisters

1837

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Influence

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“Blake-Grimké House Historical Marker.” Historical Marker, February 16, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=133687.

Biography

A wealthy planter family, the Grimke family owned several plantations throughout the state of South Carolina. As members of a slave holding family, sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke were exposed to the inhumane treatment of enslaved people at an early age. Both witnessed how abusive their mother was to the slaves.

Early Life of Sarah

Sarah Grimke loved learning and wanted to study law much like her brother, however her father forbade her from doing so. She began to teach some the enslaved people on her families plantation, such as one girl named Hetty. Hetty was Sarah's personal slave but she never saw her as one. The became friends, and Sarah taught her to read and write. Once her father found out, she had the girl whipped. This would be a turining point for Sarah's life.

Turn to Quakerism

• By the 1929, the pair found themselves exiled from society and church life in Charleston for their unwillingness to suport the institution of slavery. By the early 1820s, Sarah was already attending a Quaker church and soon moved to Philedelphia. Not to long after, Angelina would follow in her sisters footsteps, joining the church and began to participating in organized abolition movement.

Influence

Sarah and Angeling Grimké were among the first women to public speak against slavery and essentially defying gender norms. By the end of their careers, they left an everlasting impact and became the foundation for suffrage.

“Massachusetts Ministers on the Public Role of Women.” Massachusetts Ministers on the Public Role of Women | Teach US History. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources/massachusetts-ministers-public-role-women.

Ministers on the Public Role of Women

Many abolitionists were uncomfortable with the idea of women achieving equality within the political and social spheres. As a result, this would eventually lead to the General Association of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts to issue a decree denouncing women preachers. This pastoral letter was sent out to congregations to warning them of the dangers of female public speakers.

“December 2, 1859 – William Lloyd Garrison Delivers a Tribute to John Brown, Advocating End of Slavery.” Legal Legacy, May 15, 2020. https://legallegacy.wordpress.com/2020/12/02/december-2-1859-william-lloyd-garrison-delivers-a-tribute-to-john-brown-advocating-end-of-slavery/.

1835

Being frustrated with the very limited anti-slavery activies in the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, Angelina not only joined the Female Anti-Slavery Society, but she also took out a subscription and wrote to William Lloyd Garrison and his newspaper, The Liberator. Being rather impressed with the letter, Garrison published it in his paper which gained praise from abolitionists from all over. This however did not sit well with the Quaker community as it was not proper female behavior.

Grimké, Angelina Emily. “Letters to Catherine E. Beecher, in Reply to an Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, Addressed to A.E. Grimke by Angelina Emily Grimké.” Open Library, January 1, 1970. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23312221M/Letters_to_Catherine_E._Beecher_in_reply_to_An_essay_on_slavery_and_abolitionism_addressed_to_A.E._G.

Letters to Catherine Beecher

After the publication of Angelina's Christian Women of the South, Catherine Beecher a prominent educator criticized her work and the idea of immediate emancipation, as well as women maintaining a subordinate role in society. Grimke's letter in response defended her stance’s and advocated for women’s rights as citizens in the public shpere.

Angelina's Push Towards Equality

• Given the 13 year age difference, Angelina looked up to her big sister Sarah. So much so, she was the godmother of Angelina. They two sisters maintained a very close relationship throughout their lives
• Much like Sarah, Angelina was very much into her studies and having see the same evils of slavery, she began to reject the beliefs of her parents and family. Angelina believed that women should be given the same rights as men and slavery was an evil practice.

Published Abolitionists

• By this time, both sisters were heavily involved in the abolition movment and had been published for their writings as well. In 1836, Angelina wrote the pamphlet, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
• In this she urged Christian women to be concerened with abolition, to overthrow the system of oppression.
• Sarah would followed suit with her An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States.
• Sarah refutes the argument that slavery is justified because it appears in the bible, hoping to persuade those to oppose slavery.