William Lloyd Garrison. Engraving
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), the lightning rod of the abolitionist
movement, promoted “moral suasion,” or nonviolent and non-political
resistance, to achieve emancipation. Although he initially supported colonization,
Garrison later gave his support to programs that focused on immediate
emancipation without repatriation. In 1831, he began publishing The
Liberator, the single most important abolitionist publication, and
later led the American Anti-Slavery Society. His vociferous language and
his very presence outraged anti-abolitionist Northerners who attacked
him, sometimes physically, with mob-driven violence. His avid support
for a woman’s right to participate in the movement and his attack
on the American Constitution as a pro-slavery document created irretrievable
divisions in the abolitionist movement. However, his unflagging conviction
and his influence in promoting “immediatism” shaped the course
of abolitionism in America.
- William Lloyd Garrison
- Wendell Phillips
- Lydia Maria Child
- Samuel J. May
- Lucretia Mott
- Sojourner Truth
- Lewis Tappan
- William Seward
- Frederick Douglass
- Gerrit Smith
- Pennsylvania Hall
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