William Lloyd Garrison

My name is William Lloyd Garrison. Today, I am known as a brave hero who fought long and hard against the evils of slavery, but over one hundred and fifty years ago, I was not seen as such a hero. Ever since I was a young boy, life always felt like it had the upper hand on myself and my family. I was born into a poor family in the shipping port town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, where my father deserted my mother and my siblings shortly after. After my father's departure, I was forced to work hard from a young age selling candy and delivering wood just so my mother could provide for us all. Unfortunately, she could not, and I was sent to live with a Baptist priest, where I was educated until I was eleven years old. Shortly after returning home, I began my apprenticeship as a writer and editor of the Newburyport Herald at just thirteen years of age. From that moment, I knew I had found my dream and calling, and I never looked back as a writer and editor. 

For over a decade, I had been around the block with several newspapers taking me in to work for them, along with starting one myself. I founded the Newburyport Essex Courant, which folded soon after its founding as not many agreed with my viewpoints of the old Federalists. However, I see my newspaper going under as a blessing since a few years later I started my work as an activist and abolitionist when I met Benjamin Lundy.

Benjamin and I worked as editors for the Genius of Universal Emancipation in 1829, where we began our work to push for emancipation and also for the abolishment of slavery. Benjamin had founded the newspaper back in 1821, as he had been working for years to spread his beliefs on slavery. Together, we worked tooth and nail for the better part of two years to share our thoughts on slavery and the negatives behind it with the world. In doing so, I found myself in jail for one instance as I was charged with defamation against a coastal slave trader. As I said before, life always seemed to have the upper hand on me, and here I was speaking up for what I believed was right and I was being thrown in jail for doing so. 

It was my time to leave Benjamin when I founded The Liberator in 1830 in my home state of Massachusetts. This newspaper had the same goals as my work with Benjamin, which was to push for the emancipation of slaves and the abolishment of slavery as a whole. The Liberator is known as my most famous work as it served its role in printing stories and articles promoting emancipation up until 1865 when my work was finished and slavery was abolished. Outside of my newspapers, I founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society while also playing a major role in founding the American Anti-Slavery Society. Both of these societies worked to chip at the armor of slave owners and wear them down through editorials that renounced slavery and targeted the slave owners for their wrongdoing. 

As the American Anti-Slavery Society grew in popularity, I decided to combine my efforts with women's suffrage movements while also working towards these equalities without taking any form of political action. The two "rules" I had for this society caused several issues among the members, and tensions heavily grew between everyone. This led to the repeated theme of standing up for something I believed in and being targeted for it, as the combination resulted in the formation of two outside societies, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and the Liberty Party. 

The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was led by Lewis Tappan as they left the past society we had together due to the added efforts of women's suffrage and participation in emancipation efforts. Other issues included the promotion of religion in abolitionist movements. I, myself, was not a religious man and therefore never believed in the use of religious teachings to fight against slavery. The AFASS believed heavily in religion, leading to the split. The Liberty Party had issues with no political action being taken and formed their own party to nominate a presidential candidate in James Birney to attempt and politically take over to abolish slavery. Birney failed to win the presidency in 1840 and 1844 unlimitedly resulting in the folding of the Liberty Party.

Upon the split of the AASS, I was left to work alone in my fight against slavery apart from the remaining members of the AASS. Until I met a former enslaved man of the name Frederick Douglass. Together Frederick and I pushed against the Union of the United States for our beliefs in the Constitution being pro-slavery. Our work together involved over forty public speeches calling for the Union to be dissolved along with a call for enslaved and free states to be forever separated. 

I worked constantly to fight for my beliefs year after year until the end of the Civil War when my dream was finally accomplished. The push for emancipation and abolishment was over and I was victorious, however, the challenges of the journey left me beaten and in a struggle. Nevertheless, my life's work was complete, a poor boy who grew up with nothing led a life to becoming a leading force in freeing millions of wrongfully enslaved people.