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The abolition of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade was one of the great triumphs of the age. Indeed, it was a defining moment in human history. But the ending of this abhorrent practice didn't happen overnight. It took years to achieve and was only made possible by the efforts of the many brave men and women who stood up and advocated loudly for the end of the trade in human cargo and the dreadful treatment of enslaved people. All deserve credit, but there are some individuals who rank among the most famous and effective abolitionists. These are the people who truly cried freedom and made a world of difference.
To celebrate their work, click through the following gallery and learn more about these prominent activists.
Arguably the most famous abolitionist in history, Frederick Douglass was the most important Black American leader of the 19th century. His journey from enslavement to internationally renowned activist—an experience eloquently described in his first autobiography 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself'—has been a source of inspiration and hope for millions.
Another key figure of the abolition movement, Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved woman, became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women's rights. During the American Civil War, Truth helped recruit Black troops for the Union Army, work that earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.
Harriet Tubman, herself an escaped slave, helped hundreds of enslaved people escape the South by means of the Underground Railroad, a network of antislavery activists and safe houses. She nursed Union troops during the American Civil War, and took on spying missions at great personal risk. She is known as the "Moses of Her People."
Harriet Beecher Stowe is famous as the author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Published in 1852, it tells the story of the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the US, and is said by some historians to have laid the foundations of the American Civil War by influencing public opinion about slavery.
Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, Susan B. Anthony inherited a keen sense of social justice from her parents. Still in her teens, she collected antislavery petitions in New York before joining the temperance movement against alcohol, and through it began to demonstrate for women's rights and women's suffrage. Anthony, together with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, established the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans.
John Brown was a fervent abolitionist who was accused of massacring pro-slavery settlers in Kansas in 1856. In fact, he was a leading exponent of violence in the American abolitionist movement, believing it was necessary to end slavery after decades of peaceful efforts had failed. To that end, in 1859 he led an unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (in what is now West Virginia) in an attempt to start a slave insurrection. Brown was later arrested and charged with treason. Found guilty, he was hanged on December 2, 1859.
The trial of John Brown became a cause célèbre, not least because it was revealed that he'd received financial support from a group of Massachusetts abolitionists, the so-called Secret Six, among them Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911) and Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876).
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831–1917) and Theodore Parker (1810–1860) were also among the half dozen financiers and sympathizers.
So were George Luther Stearns (1809–1867) and Gerrit Smith (1797–1874), the latter a reformer and politician from New York State.
An American Quaker and abolitionist, Lucretia Mott was an early feminist activist and strong advocate for ending slavery and for giving Black people, both men and women, the right to vote.
Born into slavery, William Wells Brown eventually settled in Boston, where he worked for abolitionist causes. Brown was a prolific writer and is considered to be the first African American to publish a novel: 'Clotel, in 1853.
A self-educated reader and writer, Amos Bronson Alcott demonstrated an early passion for education. He initially struggled to find work as a teacher, and so he took a job as a traveling salesmen. Touring the South exposed Alcott to the horrors and deprivation of slavery, an experience that inspired him to join the antislavery movement and to embrace other humanitarian causes as a philosopher and reformer.
American abolitionist and clergyman Henry Highland Garnet became known for his militant approach to ending slavery, which was expressed in his rousing "Call to Rebellion" speech delivered at the 1843 National Convention of Colored Citizens in Buffalo, New York.
A printer, newspaper publisher, radical abolitionist, suffragist, and civil rights activist, William Lloyd Garrison was all this and more. In 1831, he founded The Liberator, a Boston-based periodical that served as a major platform to attack slavery and its supporters, inspire action, and promote equal rights for all.
Angelina Grimké and her sister, Sarah Moore Grimké, were considered the only notable examples of white Southern women abolitionists. They were the first women to speak in public against slavery, defying gender norms and risking violence in doing so.
Born free to African-American parents, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper embraced the abolition movement and also became a suffragist and temperance activist. She later enjoyed a successful literary career as an author and poet.
Adin Ballou was the founder of the Hopedale Community in Milford, Massachusetts, home to a number of radical abolitionists. Ballou himself
was an active member in abolitionist circles, and throughout his long career tirelessly advocated for the immediate ending of slavery.
A leading suffragist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone dedicated her life to battling inequality, speaking out for women's rights and against slavery. She was a regular speaker at the Hopedale Community.
Abolitionist Charles Burleigh caught the public imagination when he refused to cut his hair or beard until slavery had been abolished in the United States.
French-born American abolitionist and teacher Anthony Benezet was a prominent member of the abolitionist movement in North America. Active in Philadelphia, Benezet founded one of the world's first antislavery societies, the first public school for girls in North America, and a similar facility for Black children.
Henry Bibb was a prominent abolitionist who endured and overcame slavery to become the first Black editor of a newspaper in Canada, Voice of the Fugitive. Bibb told his life story in his autobiography, 'Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave.'
Born into slavery in Maryland, Josiah Henson escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) and founded the Black community settlement at Dawn, in Kent County. He was active in the Underground Railway, and his later celebrity as a novelist helped raise international awareness of Canada as a haven for refugees from slavery.
Thomas Clarkson was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. In 1787, he cofounded the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known as the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade) that later prompted the drawing up of the the Slave Trade Act 1807, which ended British trade in slaves.
It was after meeting Thomas Clarkson that British politician William Wilberforce began to take an active interest in ending slavery. He eventually became one of the leading abolitionists of the age, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for 20 years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807.
After English writer, poet, and playwright Hannah More met William Wilberforce in 1787, she realized they shared a passionate opposition to the slave trade. She became one of Wilberforce's most important supporters, writing her poem 'Slavery' as part of his campaign to achieve abolition.
Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was enslaved as a child in his hometown of Essaka in what is now southeastern Nigeria, shipped to the West Indies, moved to England, and successfully purchased his freedom. His autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,' depicts the horrors of slavery and influenced the enactment of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
Josiah Wedgwood is best known in the United Kingdom as the name behind the famous Wedgwood pottery, which earned his family a fortune. But Wedgwood was also a committed abolitionist and produced Wedgwood antislavery medallions created as part of an antislavery campaign initiated in 1787.
Scholar and philanthropist Granville Sharpe was a leading British abolitionist and instigator of the first settlement of freed African slaves in Sierra Leone.
James Ramsay was the ship's surgeon aboard HMS Arundel when the Royal Navy vessel intercepted a British slave ship, the Swift. The inhuman conditions in which the human cargo was suffering had a lasting impact on Ramsay. He became an Anglican minister and a determined abolitionist.
John Newton had previously been the captain of slave ships when he experienced a conversion to Christianity and renounced the slave trade. And like Ramsay, he became an Anglican cleric and devoted his life to its abolition. He lived to see the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807.
Sources: (National Women's History Museum) (Massachusetts Historical Society) (National Park Service)
See also: The origins of Black History Month
History's most famous abolitionists
Remembering those who fought tirelessly for the freedom of others
LIFESTYLE History
The abolition of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade was one of the great triumphs of the age. Indeed, it was a defining moment in human history. But the ending of this abhorrent practice didn't happen overnight. It took years to achieve and was only made possible by the efforts of the many brave men and women who stood up and advocated loudly for the end of the trade in human cargo and the dreadful treatment of enslaved people. All deserve credit, but there are some individuals who rank among the most famous and effective abolitionists. These are the people who truly cried freedom and made a world of difference.
To celebrate their work, click through the following gallery and learn more about these prominent activists.