Introduction
The Women’s Campaigns
Later Histories and Connections
Directions for Further Learning
Introduction
At a time when female voices in the political sphere were frowned on, a group of women from Birmingham and its surrounding areas formed one of the earliest, one of the longest running, and one of the most significant of Britain’s numerous nineteenth century anti-slavery societies. Its was officially founded in 1825 by Lucy Townsend and Mary Lloyd: a year before the all-male Birmingham Anti Slavery Society. The women advocated their own brand of grass roots activism which became both influential and effective.
In fact, despite the fact of separate men’s and women’s antislavery societies in Birmingham, a large degree of interconnectivity appears to have existed between the two. Members were often married, or part of the same family; as, for instance, with Joseph Sturge’s sister and wife, who were prominent abolitionists in their own right. Both groups shared ideas, and argued over the best way to push for an end to slavery from their base in Birmingham.
As with the men’s group, the organisations outlook would change as world circumstances altered. The full name of the organisation cited on their first report is, The Female Society for Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Walsall, and their Respective Neighbourhoods, for the Relief of British Negro Slaves. Later, it would more simply become known as The Ladies’ Negro’s Friend Society
The Women’s Campaigns
In the course of their campaigning, members chose to especially highlight to the public the case of oppressed female slaves. For it was, they rightly argued, female slaves and mothers who were often subject some to of the most barbaric treatment of the slave trade. Mothers were constantly at risk of being separated from their children and families, sold to new masters, and subjected to sexual abuse by owners against whom they had no legal or social defence.
Birmingham women wanted to challenge this situation. They sought to establish a new public awareness of the slave’s plight, and began to raise substantial amount of money to aid those in need. In some cases they sought to economically support individuals particularly at risk on plantations, or those who had been left destitute in the aftermath of the slave system. For example, their minutes books reveal an involvement in the famous case of ‘Mary Prince’, the first example of a text authored by a female West Indian ex-plantation slave.
As the ladies society grew older, they turned their activities to support a long involvement in missionary work in Africa, as well as educational schemes in the United States. The society gave long financial aid to the African American Amanda Smith, head of a school for African American children. They also sought to support the Tuskegee schools created by Booker T Washington.
Later Histories and Connections
Women’s antislavery in Birmingham had a long and significant history. The enduring practical and evangelical spirit of their societies ensured they continued to function for almost a hundred years. In fact, The Ladies Negro’s Friend Society produced its final reports in 1919. Many of these women were also involved in other local social reform movements and charities.
During the course of women’s antislavery history, it is also important to note that the call for women’s rights had become a vital issue. Here, it is interesting to explore how The Ladies Negro’s Friend society might be reconsidered as both an anti-racist and an anti-sexist campaigning group.
Certainly, some of its more radical members did rebel against the dominant wisdom of the day which stated women were simply to be guardians of the family and domestic spheres. But it is also true that others, whilst holding fierce antislavery convictions, still sought to protect the traditional sanctity of the home, and to maintain the gender boundaries suggesting political involvement was the sphere for men.
Whilst the women’s societies’ convictions about gender remained ambiguous, their approach to antislavery remained one of clear conviction. Throughout their lifespan, they not only supplied intellectual arguments and a powerful moral conviction against slavery, but also a highly ‘practical’ and extended fund raising network. Local archives show how women have a proud and long history of campaigning for social justice alongside men in Birmingham.
Directions for Further Learning
Starting points for further discussion, or your own archive research, might include:
What different kinds of strategies were needed by men and women in Birmingham on behalf of the antislavery cause? And how effective were they?
What is the relationship between the quest for women’s rights and antislavery activism? |
