Her letter to Garrison and Appeal to the Christian Women of the South gave Grimké a considerable amount of national recognition as a figure in the abolitionist movement, which enabled her to participate in many anti-slavery events, even though she was female.

Records from Grimké ’ s diaries show that Bettle intended to marry Grimké, though he never actually proposed.

The document itself drew from writings by the evangelical Quaker Sarah Grimké to make biblical claims that God had created woman equal to man and that man had usurped God's authority by establishing " absolute tyranny " over woman.

American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses, a volume co-authored by Theodore Dwight Weld and the Grimké sisters, is also a source of some of the novel's content.

" Inspired by prior wedding statements made by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill in 1851, and by Theodore Dwight Weld and Angelina Grimké in 1838, the two wrote up a tract they called " Marriage Protest " and printed a number of copies to hand out at their wedding.

Grimké wrote essays, short stories and poems which were published in The Crisis, the newspaper of the NAACP, edited by W. E. B.

Walking by Faith: The Diary of Angelina Grimké, 1828-1835, Columbia: U of South Carolina P ; 2003.

In the biography, The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina, historian Gerda Lerner writes that “ It never occurred to that she should abide by the superior judgment of her male relatives or that anyone might consider her inferior, simply for being a girl .” More so than her elder sister ( and later, fellow abolitionist ), Sarah, Angelina seemed to be naturally inquisitive and outspoken, a trait which often offended her rather traditional family and friends.

Thus, at the time Grimké was unaware ( and therefore, uninfluenced by ) events such as the Webster – Hayne debates and the Maysville Road veto, as well as controversial public figures such as Frances Wright.

Grimké was struck by the lack of options for widowed women – during this period they were mostly limited to remarriage or joining the working world – and realized the importance of education for women.

Over time, Grimké became frustrated by the Quaker community ’ s slow and passive response to the contemporary debate on slavery.

Grimké had been steadily influenced by Garrison ’ s work, and this article inspired her to write him a personal letter on the subject.

In 1836, Grimké wrote her famous An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South ( see below ), which is often considered by scholars one of the best manifestations of Grimké ’ s sociopolitical agenda.

Grimké ’ s lectures were critical of Southern slaveholders, but she also argued that Northerners tacitly complied with the status quo by purchasing slave-made products and exploiting slaves through the commercial and economic exchanges they made with slaveowners in the South.

Though the Grimké sisters were strongly supported by some male abolitionists such as Weld and Garrison, they were met with a considerable amount of opposition – both because they were female and because they were abolitionists.

In 1831, Grimké was courted by Edward Bettle, the son of Samuel and Jane Bettle, both of whom were active members of Philadelphia Quaker society.

Grimké was greatly impressed with Weld ’ s speeches and wrote in a letter to a friend that Weld was “ a man raised up by God and wonderfully qualified to plead the cause of the oppressed .” In the two years before they married, Weld encouraged Grimké ’ s activism, arranged for many of her lectures and the publication of her writings, and also greatly influenced her abolitionist philosophy.

Grimké ’ s Appeal was widely distributed by the American Anti-Slavery Society, and was received with great acclaim by radical abolitionists.

Grimké continues by directly responding to Beecher ’ s traditionalist argument on the place of women in all spheres of human activity: “ I believe it is the woman ’ s right to have a voice in all the laws and regulations by which she is to be governed, whether in Church or State: and that the present arrangements of society, on these points, are a violation of human rights, a rank usurpation of power, a violent seizure and confiscation of what is sacredly and inalienably hers .”

Garrison was so impressed with Grimké ’ s letter that he published it in the next issue of The Liberator without her consent.

The letter put Grimké in great standing among many abolitionists, but its publication offended and stirred controversy within Quaker society, who openly condemned such radical activism.

Sarah Grimké even asked her sister to withdraw the letter, concerned that such publicity would alienate her from the community.

Grimké also states, in a reply letter to Catharine E. Beecher, what she believes to be the abolitionist ’ s definition of slavery: “ Man cannot rightfully hold his fellow man as property.

In one letter, Grimké writes, “ it is because I love the colored Americans that I want them to stay in this country ; and in order to make it a happy home to them, I am trying to talk down, and write down, and live down this horrible prejudice .”

Nicknamed “ Nina ,” young Angelina Grimké was very close to her older sister Sarah Moore Grimké, who, at age thirteen, begged her parents to allow her to be Angelina ’ s godmother.

This incident led to Grimké ’ s loss of faith in the values of the Presbyterian church.

With her sister Sarah ’ s support, Grimké adopted the tenets of the Quaker faith.

However, given Grimké ’ s self-righteous nature, her comments about their wasteful and flashy behavior merely served to condescend and offend those around her.

Grimké ’ s behavior even led to her official expulsion from the Presbyterian church in 1829.

Soon after she moved to Philadelphia, Grimké ’ s widowed sister Anna moved in with her.

Sarah and the traditional Quakers disapproved of Grimké ’ s new-found interest in radical abolitionism, but Grimké became steadily more involved in the movement.

Abolitionist Robert F. Wolcutt stated that “ Angelina Grimké ’ s serene, commanding eloquence enchained attention, disarmed prejudice and carried her hearers with her .”

Sarah, Grimké ’ s closest family member at the time of Bettle ’ s courtship, supported the match.

Grimké agreed to take in Bettle ’ s cousin Elizabeth Walton, who, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, was dying of the disease.

At the Agents ’ Convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1836, Grimké became acquainted with Theodore Dwight Weld, a member of the New England Weld Family, and an abolitionist leader and suffragist.

Angelina Weld Grimké ( February 27, 1880 – June 10, 1958 ) was an African-American journalist, teacher, playwright and poet who was part of the Harlem Renaissance ; she was one of the first African-American women to have a play performed.

Angelina Weld Grimké was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1880 to a biracial family.

Her father, Archibald Grimké, was a lawyer, the second African American to have graduated from Harvard Law School.

Angelina was named for her father's aunt Angelina Grimké Weld, who with her sister Sarah Grimké had brought him and his brothers into her family after learning about him.

Angelina's paternal grandfather was Henry Grimké, of a large and wealthy slaveholding family based in Charleston, South Carolina.

Angelina Emily Grimké Weld ( 20 February 1805 – 26 October 1879 ) was an American political activist, abolitionist and supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

Grimké was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to John Faucheraud Grimké, an aristocratic Episcopalian judge, planter, lawyer, politician, slaveholder, Revolutionary War veteran and distinguished member of Charleston society.

Together they had a total of fourteen children, of which Angelina Grimké was the youngest.

Even as a young child, Grimké was described in family letters and diaries as the most self-righteous, curious and self-assured of all her siblings.

Grimké and McDowell were both very opposed to the institution of slavery on the grounds that it was a morally deficient system that violated Christian law and human rights.

McDowell advocated patience and prayer over direct action against the system, which was unsatisfactory to the radical young Grimké.

The Quaker community was very small in Charleston, and Grimké quickly set out to reform her friends and family.

Afterwards, Grimké became convinced that the South was not the proper place for her or her work, and so she relocated to Philadelphia.

During this particular period, the Grimké sisters remained relatively ignorant of certain political issues and debates – the only periodical they read regularly was The Friend, the weekly paper of the Society of Friends.