An Appeal to the Christian Women of the SouthGrimké, Angelina Emily
Religion
An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
Grimké, Angelina Emily
Slavery -- United States
Jesus still the resurrection and the life? Did he come to proclaim
liberty to the captive, and the opening of prison doors to them that
are bound, in vain? Did He promise to give beauty for ashes, the oil
of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness unto them that mourn in Zion, and will He refuse to beautify
the mind, anoint the head, and throw around the captive negro the
mantle of praise for that spirit of heaviness which has so long bound
him down to the ground? Or shall we not rather say with the prophet,
"the zeal of the Lord of Hosts _will_ perform this?" Yes, his promises
are sure, and amen in Christ Jesus, that he will assemble her that
halteth, and gather her that is driven out, and her that is afflicted.
But I will now say a few words on the subject of Abolitionism.
Doubtless you have all heard Anti-Slavery Societies denounced as
insurrectionary and mischievous, fanatical and dangerous. It has been
said they publish the most abominable untruths, and that they are
endeavoring to excite rebellions at the South. Have you believed these
reports, my friends? have _you_ also been deceived by these false
assertions? Listen to me, then, whilst I endeavor to wipe from the
fair character of Abolitionism such unfounded accusations. You know
that _I_ am a Southerner; you know that my dearest relatives are
now in a slave Slate. Can you for a moment believe I would prove so
recreant to the feelings of a daughter and a sister, as to join a
society which was seeking to overthrow slavery by falsehood, bloodshed
and murder? I appeal to you who have known and loved me in days that
are passed, can _you_ believe it? No! my friends. As a Carolinian I
was peculiarly jealous of any movements on this subject; and before I
would join an Anti-Slavery Society, I took the precaution of becoming
acquainted with some of the leading Abolitionists, of reading their
publications and attending their meetings, at which I heard addresses
both from colored and white men; and it was not until I was fully
convicted that their principles were _entirely pacific_, and their
efforts _only moral_, that I gave my name as a member to the Female
Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia. Since that time, I have
regularly taken the Liberator, and read many Anti-Slavery pamphlets
and papers and books, and can assure you I never have seen a single
insurrectionary paragraph, and never read any account of cruelty which
I could not believe. Southerners may deny the truth of these
accounts, but why do they not _prove_ them to be false? Their violent
expressions of horror at such accounts being believed _may_ deceive
some, but they cannot deceive _me_, for I lived too long in the midst
of slavery, not to know what slavery is. When I speak of this system,
"I speak that I do know," and I am not at all afraid to assert, that
Anti-Slavery publications have _not_ overdrawn the monstrous features
of slavery at all. And many a Southerner _knows_ this as well as I do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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