Lydia
Maria Francis was
born in Medford, Massachusetts on 11th February,
1802. In her twenties Child began to write popular historical novels
such as Hobomok
(1824) and The Rebels
(1825). In 1826 established a periodical for children called Juvenile
Miscellany. Her book, The
Frugal Housewife (1829), was especially popular
with the American public.
After hearing William Lloyd Garrison
speak at a public meeting in 1831 Child began involved in the campaign
against slavery. This included her book An
Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
(1833). This book converted people such as Charles
Sumner to the cause but upset her traditional readers and sales
of her other books dropped dramatically. She was eventually forced
to cease publication of Juvenile
Miscellany and instead she started with her
husband, David Lee Child, a weekly newspaper, the Anti-Slavery
Standard.
In 1839 Child and two other women, Lucretia
Mott and Maria Weston
Chapman were elected to the executive committee of the
Anti-Slavery Society.
This upset some members of the society were extremely upset by this
decision. Lewis
Tappan,
the brother of Arthur Tappan, the president
of the society, argued that: "To put a woman on the committee
with men is contrary to the usages of civilized society."
Whereas one leaders, such as William Lloyd
Garrison, Theodore Weld, Wendell
Phillips and Frederick Douglass
were as committed to women's rights as they were to the abolition
of slavery. Others disagreed with this view and in 1840 a group including
Arthur Tappan, James
Birney and Gerrit Smith left the Anti-Slavery
Society and formed a rival organization,
the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.
In 1861 Child controversially helped Harriet
Jacobs publish Incidents in the Life
of a Slave Girl. At the time the book was condemned
because of the way it dealt with the sexual exploitation of young
female slaves. Jacobs was also highly critical of the role of the
Church in maintaining slavery.
Child also became concerned about the rights of women and Native Americans.
This was reflected in the publication of History
of the Condition of Woman in Various Ages and Nations
and An Appeal for the Indians.
Lydia
Maria Francis
died on 7th July, 1880, in Wayland, Massachusetts.
(1)
Lydia Maria Child, was a strong opponent of capital punishment. She
explained her views on the subject in her book, Letters from New
York (1846)
A few years ago, a poor German came to New York and took lodgings
where he was allowed to do his cooking in the same room with the family.
The husband and wife lived in a perpetual quarrel. One day the German
came into the kitchen with a clasp knife and a pan of potatoes, and
began to pare them for his dinner. The quarrelsome couple were in
a more violent altercation than usual; but he sat with his back toward
them, and, being ignorant of their language, felt in no danger of
being involved in their disputes. But the woman, with a sudden and
unexpected movement, snatched the knife from his hand, and plunged
it in her husband's heart. She had sufficient presence of mind to
rush into the street and scream murder. The poor foreigner, in the
meanwhile, seeing the wounded man reel, sprang forward to catch him
in his arms and drew out the knife. People from the street crowded
in and found him with the dying man in his arms, the knife in his
hand, and blood upon his clothes. The wicked woman swore, in the most
positive terms, that he had been fighting with her husband and had
stabbed him with a knife he always carried.
The unfortunate
German knew too little English to understand her accusation or to
tell his own story. He was dragged off to prison, and the true state
of the case was made known through an interpreter; but it was not
believed. Circumstantial evidence was exceedingly strong against the
accused, and the real criminal swore unhesitatingly that she saw him
commit the murder. He was executed, notwithstanding the most persevering
efforts of his lawyer, John Anthon, Esq., whose convictions of the
man's innocence were so painfully strong that from that day to this
he has refused to have my connection with a capital case. Some years
after this tragic event, the woman died, and on her deathbed confessed
her
agency in the diabolical transaction; but her poor victim could receive
no benefit from his tardy repentance; society had wantonly thrown
away its power to atone for the grievous wrong.
(2)
Lydia Maria Child, controversially helped Harriet
Jacobs publish her book, Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
I
have revised her manuscript; but such changes as I have made have
been mainly for purposes of condensation and orderly arrangement.
I have not added any thing to the incidents, or changed the
import of her very pertinent remarks. With trifling exceptions, both
the ideas and the language are her own. I pruned excrescences a little,
but otherwise I had no reason for changing her lively and dramatic
way of telling her own story. The names of both persons and places
are known to me; but for good reasons I suppress them.
It will naturally excite surprise that a woman
reared in slavery should be able to write so well. But circumstances
will explain this. In the first place, nature endowed her with quick
perceptions. Secondly, the mistress, with whom she lived till she
was twelve years old, was a kind, considerate friend, who taught her
to read and spell. Thirdly, she was placed in favorable circumstances
after she came to the North; having frequent intercourse with intelligent
persons, who felt a friendly interest in her welfare, and were disposed
to give her opportunities for self-improvement.
I am well aware that many will accuse me of indecorum
for presenting these pages to the public; for the experiences of this
intelligent and much-injured woman belong to a class which some call
delicate subjects, and others indelicate. This peculiar phase of slavery
has generally been kept veiled; but the public ought to be made acquainted
with its monstrous features, and I willingly take the responsibility
of presenting them with the veil withdrawn. I do this for the sake
of my sisters in bondage, who are suffering wrongs so foul, that our
ears are too delicate to listen to them. I do it with the hope of
arousing conscientious and reflecting women at the North to a sense
of their duty in the exertion of moral influence on the question of
slavery, on all possible occasions. I do it with the hope that every
man who reads this narrative will swear solemnly before God that,
so far as he has power to prevent it, no fugitive from slavery shall
ever be sent back to suffer in that loathsome den of corruption and
cruelty.
(3) Lydia Maria
Child, The Anecdote of Elias Hicks (1839)
The following anecdote was told to me by a member of the Society of
Friends. It made a strong impression on my mind, because it shows
so clearly the excellence of a bold meekness and Christian firmness
in the discharge of duty; because it adds another fact to prove that
he who trusts in moral power hath ever a brave indifference to threats
of physical violence.
When Elias Hicks was preaching in Virginia,
many years ago, he took occasion to bear a powerful testimony against
the sin of slavery. Among the large audience collected together by
the fame of his eloquence were several planters; and they, of course,
were sorely aggrieved by his remarks. One in particular was so filled
with wrath, that he swore vehemently he would blow out the preacher's
brains, if he ventured near his plantation.
When this threat was repeated to Elias, he quietly
put on his hat and proceeded straightway to the forbidden spot. In
answer to his inquiries, a slave informed him that his master was
then at dinner, but would see him in a short time.
The preacher seated himself, and waited quietly
until the planter entered the room. In serene tones he addressed him
thus: "Friend, I understand thou hast threatened to blow out
the brains of Elias Hicks, if he comes near thy plantation. I am Elias
Hicks!"
What could brute force do in a dilemma like this?
To have taken pistols and deliberately shot an unresisting guest would
have been too assassin-like. It would have been a deed of ill appearance;
and moreover it could not be done, by reason of a restraining power
within. Earnestly, as the planter might wish the preacher in heaven,
he could not, under such circumstances, help to send him thither.
He did the best he could to sustain his position. He stammered forth,
in surly tones, an acknowledgment that he did make use of such a threat;
and he considered it perfectly justifiable when a man came to preach
rebellion to his slaves.
"Friend," replied Elias, "I came
to preach the Gospel, which inculcates forgiveness of injuries upon
slaves, as well as upon other men; but tell me, if thou can, how this
Gospel can be truly preached without showing the slaves that they
are injured, and without making a man of thy sentiments feel as if
they were encouraged in rebellion."
This led to a long argument, maintained in the
most friendly spirit. At parting, the slaveholder cordially shook
hands with the Quaker, and begged him to come again. His visits were
renewed; and six months after, the Virginian emancipated all his slaves.
(4)
Lydia Maria Child, The Emancipated of Slaveholders (1839)
The Anti-Slavery conflict is so prolonged, and so arduous, that even
abolitionists of strongest faith at times grow weary. During such
brief seasons of discouragement, nothing is more cheering, than proof
that our appeals have not fallen powerless on the hearts of slaveholders
themselves. From time to time, welcome tidings of this kind gladden
our souls, and strengthen them for renewed effort.
Professor Stowe, of Lane Seminary, recently told me an incident highly
interesting and encouraging. He was traveling in the interior of Ohio,
and found some difficulty in procuring a supper and lodging for the
night. Under these circumstances, he asked and received the hospitality
of a family residing in the second story of a building filled with
many occupants. A woman, with three or four children around her, spread
the table and cooked supper in the same room, which, like the cobbler's
stall, served them "for kitchen for parlor and all." The
furniture was scanty, and the general aspect of things indicated a
state of deprivation bordering on poverty. The woman herself was extremely
pretty, intelligent, and lady-like. The delicacy of her hands, the
refinement of her manners, and the cultivation of her mind, all implied
that her life had not been passed among such scenes as now surrounded
her. When her husband came in, his manners and conversation gave similar
evidence. The curiosity of their guest was so much excited, that he
ventured to inquire how such people as they obviously were came to
be in such a place, and under such circumstances.
They told him they were formerly slaveholders in
Virginia; but the more they thought upon the subject, the more difficult
they found it to reconcile the system of slavery with the dictates
of their own consciences. At last, they resolved to emancipate their
slaves, to seek the wilds of Ohio, and earn a living for themselves
and children by the labor of their own hands.
When asked whether she had not found the sacrifice
a very great one, she replied, "At first, labor fatigued me so
much, that I feared I never should be able to do all that was necessary
for the comfort of my family; but now I have become accustomed to
it, and find it easy. It is a privilege to dispense with the lazy,
sluttish, and reluctant service of slaves. Never did we feel what
it was to be truly free ourselves, till we had made them free."
Professor Stowe added that very many of the more
reflecting slaveholders in Kentucky had removed to Ohio, within a
few years; their consciences having become ill at ease under the public
discussion of slavery. A friend in Philadelphia informs me that a
similar emigration is going on from Virginia to Pennsylvania.
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