October 19, 1720

Ancocas, New Jersey

October 7, 1772

York, England

Quaker minister and abolitionist

Portrait: John Woolman. Reproduced by permission of The Granger Collection Ltd.

"But the general Disadvantage which these poor Africans lie under in an enlight'ned Christian Country, [has] often fill'd me with real Sadness. . . . "

John Woolman.

John Woolman was a Quaker minister who led a campaign against slavery. (See box for description of Quakers.) His efforts required considerable courage because there was no organized abolition movement (the group that wanted to outlaw slavery) during the early eighteenth century and there was much resistance to his beliefs at the time. By the late 1700s, after Woolman's death, however, Quakers had prohibited slave-holding within the Religious Society of Friends (the official name of their group). They then emerged as leaders in the abolition movement. Woolman was also an essayist who kept a detailed journal. Although he was relatively...