Hearts Beating for Liberty: Women Abolitionists in the Old Northwest

1. Grassroots Activism and Female Antislavery Societies

c hap t er 1 Grassroots Activism and Female Antislavery Societies The two knew each other by reputation only.Lucy Wright,sister of famed abolitionist Elizur Wright,had just returned home to Tallmadge,Ohio, after spending nearly two years working as a teacher in African American schools in Cincinnati. Betsey Mix Cowles,who lived only eighty miles from Wright, had recently founded the Ashtabula County Female Anti-Slavery Society, which eventually became the largest and most influential women’s group in the Old Northwest. In March 1836, Wright wrote to congratulate Cowles for her zealous advocacy of antislavery and to offer encouragement. A year before the Grimké sisters would lecture to “promiscuous” audiences in New York and Boston and four years before Abby Kelley would scandalize many with her election to a leadership position in the American AntiSlavery Society, Wright understood the burgeoning opposition to women’s organized participation in the movement: “Many curl the lip and cast the look of scorn when woman associate their efforts in this cause,” she warned. “They fear the strength that union gives so they cry, out of your sphere ladies, you have forgotten the modesty and retirement belonging to your sex.”Ever optimistic, Wright advised that the “taunts of opponents” could be helpful if they “incline us to temper our ardor with prudence and study wisdom in our measures more than we otherwise should, and if [they] beget in us patience, and meekness under insult it will be worth more than scores of 12 . female antislavery societies unmeaning compliments.” As an experienced abolitionist and a founder of the fast-growing Portage County Female Anti-Slavery Society, Wright had learned that opponents were more likely to be won over with “prudence”and “patience” than with intransigent resistance. Wright concluded her letter by wishing for a mutually beneficial friendship: “We should like well to have company in this matter.” The Ashtabula and Portage County women’s abolitionist societies would become closely linked, as Wright desired, with both experiencing explosive growth during their first year. The Ashtabula society enrolled nearly 80 women at its inaugural meeting, and within twelve months it was bursting at the seams with more than 450 members. The Portage group increased tenfold, from 37 to 390 by August 1836. No other female antislavery society in the Northwest or Northeast rivaled them in numbers; the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society included fewer than 100 members in 1836, while the famed Boston group boasted only 250 members that year. The Old Northwest. Map created by Brian Powers and William “Wes” Skidmore. female antislavery societies . 13 The New York–based American Anti-Slavery Society highlighted the two Ohio groups in its monthly publication, the Anti-Slavery Record. After disparaging those who would “hate” women for their abolitionism, the Record “rejoiced”at the “rapid multiplication”of female antislavery societies in Ohio, exclaiming, “Our hearts are cheered” at the success of the two Western Reserve groups. The efficient and successful Ashtabula and Portage organizations well represent the cooperative, pragmatic abolitionism that came to characterize western female antislavery. As Wright suggested in her letter to Cowles, western women abolitionists favored prudence and patience over zealousness and rigidity.They understood that as women taking an unpopular position on a controversial political issue, they stood on shaky ground. Western women worked toward pragmatic abolitionism by carefully choosing moderate antislavery methods, including a savvy partnership with men, an unprecedented campaign in support of black education, and a nationally influential petition drive. Moreover, in a distinctly western tradition, Ohio women banded together at the county and state levels to create a unified, powerful antislavery voice. Though their membership was almost entirely white, Ohio women’s groups also proved deeply committed to racial equality. These Ohio female antislavery societies influenced the development of women’s abolition groups in the remainder of the Old Northwest.In the 1840s,more than one hundred such organizations emerged in Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Even as eastern female groups became embroiled in divisive ideological battles, western women embraced cooperation and practical change as their maxim. Getting Organized While the colonization movement held sway among those who opposed slavery during the 1820s,William Lloyd Garrison’s call for immediate emancipation quickly took hold in the Buckeye State.By 1836,Ohio claimed more antislavery groups than any other state, accounting for 25 percent of the total. Several individuals and...