The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was the first American abolition society. It was founded April 14, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and held four meetings.[1] Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initial meetings of the Society were Quakers, that is, members of the Religious Society of Friends, a branch of Christianity notable in the early history of Pennsylvania.
It was reorganized in 1784[2] as the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,[3] (better known as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society) and was incorporated in 1789.
At some point after 1785, Benjamin Franklin was elected as the organization's president. The society asked him to bring the matter of slavery to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He petitioned the U.S Congress in 1790 to ban slavery.[4][5]
The Pennsylvania Abolition (or Abolitionist) Society, which had members and leaders of both races, became a model for anti-slavery organizations in other states during the antebellum years. Prominent African-American members included Robert Purvis.
In 1984 when the Society was revived, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed on Philadelphia's Front Street below Chestnut Street, at the site of its original offices.[6]
The Pennsylvania Abolition Society still exists, dedicated to the cause of combating racism. The oldest abolitionist organization in the United States, since the late twentieth century, it has worked to improve issues of criminal justice and the over-representation of African Americans in prison, reduction in harsh sentencing laws, and improving economic and environmental justice.
See also
- Abolition of slavery timeline
- Anthony Benezet
- John Woolman
- Benjamin Rush
- Benjamin Lundy
- John Greenleaf Whittier
- Frances Harper
References
- ^ "Founding of Pennsylvania Abolition Society". Africans in America. PBS.
- ^ "Abolition, Anti-Slavery, and The Underground Railroad". Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
- ^ "Constitution of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society". The Abolition of The Slave Trade. New York Public Library.
- ^ "Benjamin Franklin Petitions Congress". National Archives and Records Administration.
- ^ Franklin, Benjamin (February 3, 1790). "Petition from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery". Archived from the original on May 21, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2006.
- ^ "Pennsylvania Abolition Society Historical Marker". Pennsylvania Abolition Historical Society Marker. Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2012.