TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY

FIRST WOMEN'S ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY

On February 22, 1832, a group of “females of color” in Salem, Massachusetts organized the first women’s antislavery society in the United States.  Like most free black antislavery societies, the Salem organization addressed a variety of issues important to free blacks in addition to the campaign against slavery.  It supported secular and Sabbath schools for free blacks, assisted newly freed or runaway slaves, and opposed racial segregation and discrimination in the northern free states.  Two years after its founding, the Society expanded its membership to include white women and officially re-organized as the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society.