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| Anti-slavery token 1838 “Am I not a Woman and a Sister?” appeared on abolitionist tokens that were popularly circulated in America and Britain in the 1830s. This particular token is stamped with the year 1838. The widespread image shows an African American woman kneeling in chains with the phrase “Am I not a Woman and a Sister?”. While tokens were a popular choice to exhibit the engraving, this image could also be seen in pamphlets and books, as well as on bracelets, hairpins, brooches and even snuffboxes. They were well known at anti-slavery events and many items were imprinted with the image and motto, and sold at the fund-raising fairs. The endemic slogan originated from an image produced by Josiah Wedgwood; one of an African American man in a similar position, with the phrase “Am I not a Man and a Brother?”. However, the woman’s figure seemed to draw more attention, as well as quite a few important correlations between African American slavery and lack of women’s rights. This token shows a significant relation between abolition and the fight for equal rights of women. Women took center stage in the abolition movement, and it was during that time that they discovered their own shortage of rights, and began to form an expressive desire for equality. While fighting for the freedom of others, their own inequalities, in striking contrast with those of men, became evidently clear, and the comparisons began. For how could women properly argue for the freedom of others when they were so limited in rights of their own? Anti-slavery and Women’s Rights crusader, Angelica Grimke, draws comparisons between speaking out regarding the two similar institutions, in a letter written to Theodore Weld ( A Private Debate About Abolition and Women's Rights): “Now my dear brothers this invasion of our rights was just such an attack upon us, as that made upon Abolitionists generally when they were told a few years ago that they had no right to discuss the subject of Slavery. Did you take no notice of this assertion? Why no! With one heart and one voice you said, We will settle this right before we go one step further. The time to assert a right is the time when that right is denied. We must establish this right for if we do not, it will be impossible for us to go on with the work of Emancipation …” The points that Angelica Grimke makes are intriguing. She brings to light quite a few interesting correlations. If women had not taken such a large part in the anti-slavery crusade, would they have indeed accomplished equal rights? Without having fought so hard for the African American freedom, would women have took such notice to the chains that bound them? Eric Foner quotes Angelica Grimke (“Give Me Liberty! An American History” pg. 433) as stating, “Since I engaged in the investigation of the rights of the slave… I have necessarily been led to a better understand of my own.” “Am I not a Woman and a Sister?” did not extend only to female African American slaves, it encompassed the entire spectrum of women in the United States. While the slavery that existed between a white man and his wife was different than the slavery that took place between an African American female slave and her master, both were, nonetheless, mentally and physically abusive. A wife had virtually no rights in her marriage. Her husband was able, by law, to control her; financially, sexually and psychologically. He was her, in the true definition of the word, “master”. When women came became active in the abolition movement, they found a kindred race. When they asked “Am I not a Woman and a Sister?”, it was an echo of their own feelings, of the disgraceful discrimination that they had suffered for years at the hand of their so-called "brothers". It’s not surprising that women were the most active in anti-slavery affairs; they were fighting not only for the rights of slaves, but for the rights of all humans. Works Cited Grimke, Angelica. “Angelina Grimké to Theodore Weld and John Greenleaf Whittier.” 1837. A Private Debate About Abolition and Women's Rights. Foner, Eric. "Give Me Liberty! An American History". 2009 "Anti-Slavery Token" 1838. Photograph. Anti-Slavery Images, Colonial Williamsburg. "Abolition of the Slave Trade". 2010. The National Archives / Exhibitions & Learning Online |
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