[April 14, 2015] If you never heard of Anthony Benezet, then don’t feel left out on the historical education most of us Americans receive. If you happen to read about him, it will say he was the first U.S. citizen that founded an abolition society. The significance of his abolition society was that it promoted the eradication of slavery; as such, the abolition was based on Biblical teachings and driven through his visionary leadership.
Benezet was a leading Quaker educator and created the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage – not exactly a memorable name or easily made into an acronym like we do today. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on this date April 14, 1775, just 240 years ago, it had a number of well-known people of both white and black races. For example, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Purvis were members.
Benezet was one of many crusaders against slavery. In the 1750s he started evening school for blacks in his home. By the 1760s he was an active abolitionist. His beliefs as a religious person led him to condemn slavery as a sin and helped motivate him to push for laws prohibiting it. His most important writing on slavery was in 1766 when he published A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and her Colonies on the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes.1
He continued to work for social justice in teaching all children, regardless of race, physical limitations, and economic status. Furthermore, he opposed harsh teaching methods, preferring instead to use compassion and gentleness. Benezet was a man whose vision was not realized until 90 years later in 1865 after a great civil war that tore apart the United States and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed and ratified.
Our respect goes out to Anthony Benezet for all he did to help slavery be abolished in the United States. Benezet was far ahead of his time.
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[1] American Education: The Colonial Experience, 1607-1783 by Lawrence Cremin, 1970.