What did Angelina Grimke do about womens rights?
As with many women on Sunny’s list of the Most Influential Women of the Millennium, Sunny has already written about the Grimke Sisters from South Carolina. Born of a wealthy South Carolina plantation family, Sarah and Angelina rejected the institution of slavery. In the late 1820s, Sarah and, later, Angelina, moved north to Philadelphia and embraced the Quaker religion. Yet, even in Quaker circles, anti-slavery efforts were considered radical and the idea that women should be active in a public life was completely unacceptable. With the death of their brother Thomas, the only member of their family to give them even a minimum level of support and so their last remaining meaningful link to their past lives in South Carolina, Sarah’s attitudes and ideas changed radically. Having expected some sign of sympathy from an old friend, Israel Morris, Sarah understood when he rebuked her for expecting even a minimum level of condolence over her brother’s death. Meanwhile, in her diary of Februar
