Sarah Moore Grimké (November 26, 1792 – December 23, 1873) was an American abolitionist and feminist, widely held to be the mother of the women's suffrage movement. Born and reared in South Carolina to a prominent and wealthy planter family, she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1820s and became a Quaker, as did her younger sister Angelina. The sisters began to speak on the abolitionist lecture circuit, joining a tradition of women who had been speaking in public on political issues since colonial days, including Susanna Wright, Hannah Griffitts, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Anna Dickinson. They recounted their knowledge of slavery firsthand, urged abolition, and also became activists for women's rights.

Early life

Sarah Grimké – her parents sometimes called her "Sally"– she was keenly aware of the inferiority of her education when compared to her brothers' classical one. Although her family recognized her remarkable intelligence, she was prevented from obtaining a substantive education or pursuing her dream of becoming an attorney, as these goals were considered "unwomanly." She was educated by private tutors on subjects considered appropriate for a young Southern woman of her class, including French, embroidery, painting with watercolors, and playing the harpsichord. Her father allowed Sarah to study geography, history, and mathematics from the books in his library, and to read his law books; however, he drew the line at her learning Latin.) These ideas, combined with her secret studies of the law, gave her some of the basis for her later work as an activist. Her father told her that if she had been a man, she would have been the greatest lawyer in South Carolina. Sarah believed her inability to get higher education was unfair. She wondered at the behavior of her family and neighbors, who encouraged slaves to be baptized and to attend worship services, but did not consider them true brothers and sisters in faith.

From her youth, Sarah believed that religion should take a more proactive role in improving the lives of those who suffered most. Her religious quest took her first to Presbyterianism; she converted in 1817.

Becoming an abolitionist

In 1817 Sarah's father was seriously ill, and the doctors of Charleston recommended he travel to Philadelphia to consult Dr. Philip Syng Physick. Despite her vehement objections, her father insisted that Sarah, then 26 years old, accompany him as his nursemaid. Sarah relented, and they left Charleston for the north in May, 1819. When Physick found he could not help, he suggested that they take in the sea air of the fishing village of Long Branch, New Jersey. The pair settled into a boardinghouse, where, after just a few weeks, John Faucheraud Grimké died.

As a result of this experience, Sarah became more self-assured, independent, and morally responsible. She decided she would not make her home in South Carolina:

She stayed in Philadelphia a few months after her father died and met Israel Morris, who would introduce her to Quakerism, specifically the writings of John Woolman. She returned to Charleston but decided that she would go back to Philadelphia to become a Quaker minister and leave her Episcopalian upbringing behind. She was stymied, however, when she was repeatedly ignored and shut out by the male-dominated Quaker council. In November, 1829, Angelina joined her sister in Philadelphia. They had long had a close relationship; for years, Angelina called Sarah "mother", as Sarah was both her godmother and primary caretaker.

Sarah Grimké is categorized as not only an abolitionist but also a feminist because she challenged the Society of Friends, which touted women's inclusion but denied her. It was through her abolitionist pursuits that she became more sensitive to the restrictions on women. She so opposed being subject to men that she refused to marry. Both Sarah and Angelina became very involved in the anti-slavery movement and published volumes of literature and letters on the topic. When they became well known, they began lecturing around the country on the issue. At the time women did not speak in public meetings, so Sarah was viewed as a leader in feminist issues. She openly challenged women's domestic roles.

The papers of the Grimké family are in the South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, South Carolina. The Weld–Grimké papers are in the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Papers of Sarah Grimké are held by the University of Texas Library, Austin, Texas. The Library of Congress holds 5 letters from her to Sarah Mapps Douglass.

The first volume of History of Woman Suffrage, published in 1881, is inscribed to the memory of the Grimké sisters, among others.

In 1998, the Grimké sisters were inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In November 2019, the city of Boston named a newly reconstructed bridge over the Neponset River in the Hyde Park neighborhood the Grimké Sisters Bridge. The Grimké sisters are remembered on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

Views on faith and creation

Sarah Grimké's view on abolition is clear based on her activism, and she was a major female player in the abolition movement. These views were rooted in her Quaker faith, and she believed, similar to her sister, that slavery was contrary to God's will. Similarly, her views on women's rights were rooted in her interpretation of the Bible. Sarah responded to this letter also with Scripture, encouraging women to take on a motto of 'The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?' She must feel, if she feels rightly, that she is filling one of the most important duties laid upon her as an accountable being, and that her character, instead of being 'unnatural', is in exact accordance with the will of Him,". Her faith and closeness to God were a critical factor in her ability to be unafraid during times of opposition and to argue on behalf of women and slaves well.

Writings

Sarah composed a series of letters regarding women and their place in society, specifically within the church, that were later compiled in to a book titled Letters on the Equality of Sexes and the Condition of Women. It is in these letters that she discusses the wrongs done to women that are inconsistent with the Bible and gives advice on how women ought to combat these issues. This book was published in 1838, but her writings and letters, as well as her sister's, had been circulating for years due to the publications of their writings in The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison.

In her first letter, dated January 11, 1837, she states that she relies solely on Scripture because she believes "almost everything that has been written on this subject [women's sphere], has been the result of a misconception of simple truths revealed in the Scriptures" outlining a clear intent and purpose for the analysis that follows. It is in these letters that she condemns the behavior of American men's treatment of women and slaves simply as a means to promote and benefit themselves. Letters 5-8 are dedicated to the evaluation of the condition of women in different countries, including Asia, Africa, Greenland, and the US, revealing the depth and breadth of her interest in women's issues stretched. Later, she declares that men are equally guilty in "the fall" (of Adam and Eve in the Bible) of humankind and therefore disproving the eternal punishment previously laid upon women as a result of their alleged irresponsibility. In the conclusion of her letters she acknowledges the striking ideas they pose and the newness to these discussions among Christians, but urges them to "investigate them fearlessly and prayerfully, and not shrink from the examination," which was characteristic of her writing and speeches.

  • The Grimké sisters and Theodore Dwight Weld are featured prominently in the juvenile fiction book The Forge and the Forest (1975) by Betty Underwood.
  • The Grimké sisters appear as main characters in Ain Gordon's 2013 play If She Stood, commissioned by the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia.
  • Sue Monk Kidd's 2014 novel The Invention of Wings is based on Sarah Grimké's life.
  • "The Grimké Sisters at Work on Theodore Dwight Weld's American Slavery As It Is (1838)" is a poem by Melissa Range, published in the September 30, 2019, issue of The Nation.

See also

  • Grimké sisters
  • List of suffragists and suffragettes
  • History of feminism
  • Timeline of women's suffrage

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Ceplair, Larry (1989). The Public Years of Sarah and Angelina Grimké: Selected Writings. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Downing, David C. (2007) A South Divided: Portraits of Dissent in the Confederacy. Nashville: Cumberland House.
  • Durso, Pamela R. (2003). The Power of Woman: The life and writings of Sarah Moore Grimké. Mercer University Press
  • Harrold, Stanley (1996). The Abolitionists and the South, 1831–1861. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
  • Lerner, Gerda (1971), The Grimké Sisters From South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition. New York: Schocken Books, 1971, and Cary, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. .
  • Picture and biographic information
  • "Sarah and Angelina Grimké" Freedom: A History of Us (PBS)