Hall Of Fame
Ten leading abolitionists
Sojourner Truth 1797 – 1883
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery, managing to escape in 1827. A devout Christian, she became a preacher, travelling around the United States speaking about abolition and women’s rights. Her most famous anti-slavery and women’s rights speech, during which she uttered the phrase “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. Truth continued to speak out on abolition both during and after the Civil War, and she helped to recruit Black soldiers and refugees. In recognition of her efforts for the abolition movement, she was invited to the White House by President Abraham Lincoln.
JOHN MERCER LANGSTON 1829-97
Abolitionist, attorney and politician John Mercer Langston was one of the first African Americans to hold an elective office in the United States, becoming the township clerk in Brownhelm, Ohio, in 1855. In the midst of the Civil War, he helped to recruit Black soldiers for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the Union Army’s first Black regiment. Towards the end of his political career, he became the first Black man to represent Virginia in the US House of Representatives.
ABBY KELLEY FOSTER 1811-87
Abby Kelley Foster was an abolitionist lecturer and fundraiser for the American Anti-slavery Society and a supporter of immediate emancipation. At the second Anti-slavery Convention of American Women in 1838, a defiant Foster delivered her first speech against slavery, despite facing mob violence. Her home was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad but she opposed the violence of the American Civil War. After the war, Foster fought for the 15th Amendment, which gave African American men the right to vote.
Frederick Douglass c.1818-95
African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland, before he managed to escape to New York City in 1838. Seven years later, he published his influential autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. The book was an instant success and helped to promote the abolitionist cause, and in 1855 Douglass published his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom. A celebrated writer and a great orator, Douglass was a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society and he helped to recruit Black soldiers for the Union during the Civil War.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 1805-79
Considered one of the most radical voices of the abolitionist movement, William Lloyd Garrison founded the weekly abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in 1831. Advocating for the immediate emancipation of enslaved people, Garrison’s newspaper remained in print throughout the Civil War and it even inspired Frederick Douglass to start his own abolitionist paper. He eventually retired in December 1865 following the end of the Civil War and two years after the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. An early and influential abolitionist who founded the American Antislavery Society, Garrison inspired many of the other abolitionists included here.