Voting Station

Angelina and Sarah Grimke

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The Resume

    Born in Charleston, South Carolina
    Sarah Moore Grimke (Nov. 26, 1792-Dec. 23, 1873), penned 'An Epistle to the Clergy of Southern States' (1836)
    Angelina Emily Grimke (Feb. 20, 1805-Oct. 26, 1879), published 'An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South' (1836)
    Former Southern aristocrats, converts to Quakerism
    Left their slaveholding family and moved to Philadelphia to join the Abolitionist movement
    Traveled the East and New England as lecturers on behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS); published several pieces in the abolitionist newspaper, 'The Liberator'
    Co-wrote 'Letters on the Equality of the Sexes' (1838) and 'American Slavery as It Is' (1839)

Why they might be annoying:

    They were deeply estranged from their slave-owning parents.
    At the start of their activism, they were less concerned with the well-being of the slaves than they were the souls of their owners. (They argued that the Bible condemned slavery.)
    Between the two, Sarah worked harder and did the bulk of the organizing/research, although Angelina overshadowed her in public (and still does).
    Angelina fell head-over-heels in love with ASA organizer Theodore Weld, who told her he had vowed never to marry 'until the slaves were free' (and she fell for that old line...)
    Weld didn't exactly hold true to his promise, because the two married in 1838. After the marriage, their activity slowed dramatically (Weld was deeply critical of their advocating women's rights, which he thought distracted from the Abolitionist cause).
    In her later years, Angelina resembled Irene Ryan in full 'Granny' mode.
    Sarah, herself, bore a physical resemblance to Edna May Oliver.

Why they might not be annoying:

    They were arguably the first women activists to support the Abolitionist cause.
    Their Southern background made them unique to the Abolitionist movement in that they had grown up around the institution they were condemning.
    They left home to settle in Philadelphia and join the city's Quaker community (which Sarah had fallen in love with while caring for her father in the city).
    Their decision to leave their homes - as wealthy white Southern women - was deemed scandalous at the time (and as their anti-Slavery activism became known, their family was informed that they would be jailed if they ever returned to Charleston).
    Angelina first came to public attention after penning a famous letter to William Lloyd Garrison, telling him 'the ground upon which you stand is holy ground.'
    Recognizing her name as among one of the oldest slaveholding families in the South, Garrison published the letter in 'The Liberator' without her knowledge. Her family pressed her to denounce the letter, but she refused.
    The negative response to their public speaking circuit (which violated societal norms of the period), led them to also call out the restrictions on the freedoms of women, drawing a direct link between the two issues.
    They appealed to Christian women of the South to join them in the cause of ending slavery by helping to convince their fathers and husbands (in reaction, their pamphlets were publicly burned in the South).
    After learning that their late brother had three mixed-race sons, they helped the boys get educations in the North.
    In the early 1840s, they developed a private boarding school for young girls (Elizabeth Cady Stanton sent her own daughter there).
    Their expose, 'Slavery As it Is,' documenting the abuse they witnessed during their time living on their father's plantation was - until the publication of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' - the best known and most referred to text detailing the evils of American slavery.
    In their 70s/80s, they attempted to cast a vote in the 1872 election following the passage of the 15th Amendment.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 43 Votes: 74.42% Annoying