Customer Reviews

The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read an earlier (1970-something?) publication of this work, and really enjoyed it. The sisters were presented as powerful thinkers who struggled with the issues of their day. The title is right on, they were pioneers for women's rights, as well as influential abolitionists. I'm glad that they were presented as whole people, with doubts and questions and problems, too.

It was an easy ready, but I didn't feel like the author was talking down to me. The book is highly recommended.

The Grimke Sisters rather then the European-American settlers in the West were the true pioneers of 19th Century America. They were ahead of their peers in supporting reform causes such as Abolitionism, Women's Rights and opposing racial prejudice. The last one was especially significant since many white abolitionists were prejudiced toward blacks even though they opposed slavery.

What is especially remarkable about the Grimke Sisters is that they were among the very few white abolitionists who grew up in the Deep South. They were from South Carolina and their cousin was Robert Rhett the famous fire eater.

The book examines how their religious beliefs shaped their political views and their involvement in factional struggles in the Quaker Church and the Abolition movement.

The Grimke sisters were indeed gutsy; southern born women who rebelled against slavery and took to the northern hustings to make their case. Gerda Lerner has done a splendid job of mapping their story.

Later I found they were not the only ones in the Grimke family to rebel against "that peculiar institution". Mark Perry's book Lift Up Thy Voice, should be a companion piece, because the sisters had two mulatto nephews they helped educate and who also became abolitionists.