Description

Title devised by cataloger.This letter was printed in the second edition of the last number of the Liberator, dated December 29, 1865 (Vol. XXXV, no.52), under the heading, "Farewell to the Liberator."In this printed letter to William Lloyd Garrison, written on the 30th anniversary of the Garrison mob, William C. Nell reflects on the successes and challenges of the antislavery movement. He shares his belief "that the Liberator, together with the mobbing and other persecutions of its Editor, has been potent, under God, in bringing the American nation to the position it occupies today on the question of slavery ..." Nell cites the names of many abolitionists who contributed to the Liberator and helped to popularize the abolition movement, including James Forten, Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, and Ellis Gray Loring. He says that he knows "of the names and deeds of many other tried veterans in the anti-slavery ranks, men and women ... all of whom, however they may have differed upon measures, have always been united in the purpose to secure freedom for the slave and the elevation of colored Americans." Nell also identifies the Liberator as one of the "earliest and most persistent advocate[s]" for the rights of women. He states that "no ordinary pressure of circumstances will ever compel me to part" with his complete collection of the newspaper. He ends his letter, "With a heart overflowing with gratitude for your life-long services in the cause of those with whom I am identified by complexion and condition...

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Boston Public Library

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Digital Commonwealth