Angelina Emily Grimke
Angelina Grimké (born February 21, 1805 in South Carolina , † October 26, 1879 in Hyde Park (Boston) , Massachusetts ) was a political activist in the United States, a suffragette and next to her older sister Sarah Moore Grimké the only known woman from the southern United States, which was part of the abolitionism movement. She was the daughter of a respected and wealthy planter and slave owner, John Faucheraud Grimké. Although she grew up in the south, she spent all of her adult life in the northern states, where she was active in Quakerism , as did her sister Sarah. The period of her greatest fame was between 1836 when a letter she sent to William Lloyd Garrison appeared in the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator , and May 1838 when she gave a speech on abolitionism during a hostile crowd of stones threw and shouted outside the meeting hall. The essays and speeches she wrote over this two-year period contained powerful arguments to end slavery and promote women's rights.
Life
Origin, early years and religious activity
Angelina Grimké was born in Charleston as the youngest of 14 children of the wealthy planter couple John Faucheraud Grimké and Mary Smith, both descendants of respected families. Her father was an Angelican lawyer, planter , politician and judge . He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a distinguished member of Charleston society. Her mother Mary was a descendant of the former governor and "landgrave" Thomas Smith and his wife, who also came from one of the best families in Charleston. They were great slave owners. The father only allowed his male offspring to receive a good education, but the sons shared their courses and knowledge with the sisters, including Angelina.
Mary and John Grimké were strict adherents of the traditional upper-class southern values on which their position in Charleston society was based. Mary never allowed the girls to move outside of the prescribed social circles and John remained a slave owner all his life. The young Angelina, nicknamed "Nina", was very close to her older sister Sarah, who at the age of 13 brought her parents to allow her to become Angelina's godmother . The two sisters maintained their close relationship with one another throughout their lives. In fact, they lived together for most of their lives, except for a few brief periods of separation.
Even as a child, Nina was the most headstrong, curious and self-confident of the siblings. She seemed critical and frank by nature, which didn't go down well with her rather conventional family and friends. She was not confirmed at the age of 13 because she did not agree with the creed to be spoken; she broke off the ceremony. She converted to the Presbyterian faith at the age of 21 .
She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and became a close friend of the pastor of her church, Reverend William McDowell. She and McDowell, a New Jersey native , were both opposed to slavery because it was a morally bad system that violated the Christian faith and human rights. McDowell, however, advocated the principle of patience and prayer rather than immediate action, arguing that the abolition of slavery would cause even worse evils. This was unsatisfactory for the young Grimké.
In 1829 she raised the issue of slavery at a ward meeting and demanded that all slave-holding members of the congregation openly condemn the practice. Their requests were refused because by that time the Church had made peace with slavery. She had found a biblical justification for this and required Christian slave owners to be fatherly to the slaves and to treat them better. Now Grimké also lost faith in the values of the Presbyterian Church and, with the support of her sister Sarah, converted to the Quaker faith in 1829. After trying in vain to convert her family as well - her condescending and quick-tempered demeanor did not help much - she decided to follow her sister Sarah and move to Philadelphia .
marriage
Grimké first met Theodore Weld, a prominent abolitionist, in October 1836 at a "agent training" meeting. She was very impressed with his speeches. In the two years leading up to their marriage, Weld encouraged Grimké's activities by organizing many lectures for her and facilitating the publication of her writings. They were married in Philadelphia on May 14, 1838, in front of a black and a white clergyman.
They lived with Sarah in New Jersey and raised three children. They earned their living by running two schools, one of which was in the utopian community of the "Raritan Bay Union". After the Civil War ended , the household moved to Hyde Park (Boston) , where they spent the last years of their lives together. Angelina and Sarah were both active in the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.
heritage
- Recently, Angelina Grimké, like her sister Sarah, has received the recognition she deserves. She is remembered at Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party .
- In 1998, Grimké was subsequently inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. They are also remembered in the “Boston Women's Heritage Trail”.
Important writings
The two most notable works by Grimké are:
- Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
- Letters to Catharine Beecher
An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836)
The writing on Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (dt .: An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South ), published by the American Anti-Slavery Society , is unique because it is the only written appeal for the abolition of slavery by a Southern - Was a wife to other southerners who was written in the hope that they would not be able to withstand an appeal from their own ranks. The style of the essay is very personal and she uses simple language and strong assertions to get the ideas across. The "Appeal" was made widely known by the "American Anti-Slavery Society" and was greeted with great acclaim by radical abolitionists. But he was also heavily criticized by their previous Quaker community and publicly burned in South Carolina.
The appeal contains seven main arguments:
- First: that slavery is in opposition to the "Declaration of Independence" (German: Declaration of Independence );
- Second, that slavery is contrary to the first pronouncement of human rights as given to mankind in the Bible;
- Third, that the argument that slavery was prophesied does not provide an excuse for slave owners for violating other people's natural rights;
- Fourth, that slavery was never believed to have been permitted by the fathers of the Bible;
- Fifth, that slavery never existed under the law of the Hebrew Bible;
- Sixth, that slavery in America classifies man as a thing;
- Seventh, that slavery is contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ and his apostles.
In this way, and at the same time as a true believer, Grimké uses the beliefs of the Christian religion to attack the idea of slavery.
After discussing the seven theological arguments against slavery, Grimké explains the reasons why she addresses her request specifically to women from the South. She admits there was a foreseeable objection:
Even if a southern woman agrees that slavery is a sin, she has no legislative power to effect change. Grimké replied that a woman had four duties in this matter: to read, pray, speak and act. While women do not have the political power to bring about change on their own, she stresses that they are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do. She admonishes women to speak up, also because of their moral opposition to slavery, and to endure any persecution that might ensue as a result. She doesn't believe in the idea that women are too weak to withstand such consequences. In this way she develops a concept of women that sees women as powerful political actors in the slave affair, without even gently touching the question of women's suffrage.
Furthermore, in her essay, Grimké again shows her lifelong enthusiasm for the general education of women and slaves. In her appeal , she emphasizes the importance of women familiarizing their slaves or future workers with general English education. They have an understanding and that must be encouraged.
Letters to Catharine Beecher
Grimkés Letters to Catharine Beecher (dt. Letters to Catharine Beecher ) was at first a series of essays on Beecher's writing An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism with reference to the duty of American Females (dt .: An essay on slavery and emancipation with respect on the duties of female Americans ) as it was addressed directly to her. The series of replies was written with the moral support of her future husband, Weld, and was published in both The Emancipator and The Liberator . Thereafter, in 1838, all were reprinted as a whole in book form by Isaac Knapp, the printer of the Liberator .
Beecher's essay opposes the participation of women in the slave liberation movement on the grounds that women are in a subordinate position to men because of a benevolent and immutable divine law.
Grimké's responses were in defense of both abolitionism and women's rights movements. Grimké's letters are widely viewed as early feminist arguments, although only two of the letters touch on feminism and women's suffrage. Letter XII is somewhat similar in rhetorical style to the Declaration of Independence and shows Grimké's religious values. She argues that all human beings are moral beings and should be treated as such, regardless of gender:
"Measure her rights and duties by the unerring standard of moral being ... and then the truth will be self-evident, that whatever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do. I recognize no rights but human rights - I know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for in Christ Jesus, there is neither male nor female. It is my solemn conviction, that, until this principle of equality is recognized and embodied in practice, the Church can do nothing effectual for the permanent reformation of the world. "
(German translation: Measure their rights and duties according to the incorruptible principles of morality; ... and then the truth will be evident that whatever is morally right for a man to do, also moral for a woman's doing I do not recognize any rights other than human rights - I know nothing of men's and women's rights, because in Jesus Christ there are neither male nor female.It is my grave conviction that the church is doing nothing effective for the continuing reformation of the world can until this principle of equality is not recognized and internalized in practice.)
Grimké responds to Beecher's traditionalist argument about the position of women in all areas of human activity:
"I believe it is the woman's right to have a voice in all the laws and regulations by which she is to be governed, whether in Church or State: and that the present arrangements of society, on these points, are a violation of human rights , a rank usurpation of power, a violent seizure and confiscation of what is sacredly and inalienably hers. "
(German translation: I believe it is the woman's right to have a say in all the laws and regulations by which she is governed, both in the church and in the state. And I believe that the current regulations in society is a violation of human rights on this problem, a terrible presumption of power, a forcible removal and confiscation of what belongs to it in a sacred and inviolable way.)
American Slavery As It Is
In 1839 she, her husband Theodore Dwight Weld and her sister Sarah published American Slavery as It Is , which became the second most important book in anti-slavery literature after Harriet Beecher Stowe's uncle Tom's hut .
See also
Contemporary culture
In Ain Gordon's 2013 play, If She Stood - performed by the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia - although she does not appear on stage, she is frequently mentioned by the characters Sarah Moore Grimké and Angelina Weld Grimké .
Angelina Grimké Weld is also an important character in the novel The Invention of Wings (dt .: The invention of the wings ) by Sue Monk Kidd , the fates of Sarah Grimké has and a slave from the budget of Grimkés called "Handful" on the subject.
literature
- William Lee Miller: Arguing About Slavery. John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States Congress - Vintage Books, New York 1995, ISBN 0-394-56922-9
- Robert K. Nelson, " 'The Forgetfulness of Sex': Devotion and Desire in the Courtship Letters of Angelina Grimké and Theodore Dwight Weld" , Journal of Social History 37 (Spring 2004): 663-679.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerda Lerner, "The Grimke Sisters and the Struggle Against Race Prejudice", The Journal of Negro History Vol. 48, no. 4 (October 1963), pp. 277–91 accessed September 21, 2016
- ↑ Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor, accessed June 4, 2012
- Jump up ↑ Boston Women's Heritage Trail, Downtown # 5 Boston Women's Heritage Trail, No. 5 in Old Town
- ↑ Grimke-sisters, American abolitionists from the Encyclopedia Britannica
- ^ Angelina Grimké, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South. In: American Political Thought, pp. 572-77, 1836. ISBN 978-0-393-92886-0
- ↑ Angelina Grimké, Letter to Catharine Beecher. In: American Political Thought, pp. 510-14, 1837. ISBN 978-0-393-92886-0
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Grimke, Angelina Emily |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Grimke, Angelina |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American political activist and suffragette |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1805 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | South carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 26, 1879 |
| Place of death | Hyde Park (Boston) , Massachusetts |