Anthony Benezet

Benezet teaches colored children's
illustration in a book from 1850

Anthony Benezet , or Antoine Bénézet (born January 31, 1713 in Saint-Quentin , † May 3, 1784 in Philadelphia ) was an American teacher and abolitionist .

biography

Anthony Benezet was born as Antoine Bénézet in Saint-Quentin , France in 1713 . His family were Huguenots . Because of the persecution of Protestants, the family left France, first to Rotterdam , later to Greenwich and then to London . In 1727 he joined the Religious Society of Friends . In 1731 the family emigrated to Philadelphia .

Anthony Benezet and John Woolman were the first American abolitionists. In Philadelphia he managed to convince the Quakers that slavery was incompatible with the Christian faith. He said that the prohibition of slavery in the British Isles should also apply to the colonies that would later become the United States.

After several unsuccessful years as a merchant, he began teaching at a school in Germantown , Pennsylvania in 1739 . In 1742 he went to the Quaker School in Philadelphia (today's William Penn Charter School ). From 1750 he offered lessons in night classes for black slaves.

In 1754 he left the Quaker School and founded his own school, the first girls' school on the American continent. In 1770 he founded the Negro School in Philadelphia.

Benezet died on May 3, 1784; he was buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Philadelphia.

literature

• Claus Bernet :  Benezet, Anthony. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Sp. 146–157.