Activism > Abolition Archives

Harriet Forten Purvis

American abolitionist and suffragist who co-founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society

Abby Hutchinson Patton

American singer and poet

Abigail May Alcott

American suffragist, abolitionist and one of the first paid social workers in the state of Massachusetts

Remembered as someone “pointed and convincing in speech, winning in manner, [and] overpowering in appeal,” community and religious leader Eliza Ann Gardner exemplified the social activist tradition within African-American churches.

Harriet Hayden

Harriet Bell Hayden, a prominent abolitionist and activist, sheltered freedom seekers in her home on Beacon Hill and dedicated her life to advocating for equal rights for all.

Abby Kelley

Abby Kelley was an abolitionist and an early women’s rights advocate. Devoting her life to creating a more equitable society, she used her skills as a lecturer and educator to advocate for the rights of African Americans and women.

Charlotte Forten Grimke

Prominent abolitionist and women’s rights advocate. During the Civil War, Forten taught newly freed African-Americans on the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Her writings and poetry showed her commitment to battling racial and gender inequality.

Esther Hobart Morris

Esther Hobart Morris was the first woman to serve as Justice of the Peace in the United States. She was appointed justice of South Pass City, Wyoming after the previous justice resigned in protest after Wyoming Territory passed a woman suffrage amendment in December 1869.

Maria W Stewart

Abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Maria W. Stewart was one of the first women of any race to speak in public in the United States. She was also the first Black American woman to write and publish a political manifesto.

Elizabeth Van Lew

She joined with other Richmond Unionists to create an underground network to hinder the Confederate war effort and give aid and comfort to captured Union soldiers during the United States’ Civil War.