Lucretia Mott Speaks: The Essential Speeches and Sermons

by Lucretia Coffin Mott, Christopher Densmore (Editor), Carol Faulkner (Editor), Nancy A Hewitt (Editor), Beverly Wilson Palmer (Editor)

Overview

Committed abolitionist, controversial Quaker minister, tireless pacifist, fiery crusader for women's rights—Lucretia Mott was one of the great reformers in America history. Her sixty years of sermons and speeches reached untold thousands of people. Yet Mott eschewed prepared lectures in favor of an extemporaneous speaking style inspired by the inner light at the core of her Quaker faith. It was left to stenographers, journalists, Friends, and colleagues to record her words for posterity.

Drawing on widely scattered archives, newspaper accounts, and other sources, Lucretia Mott Speaks unearths the essential speeches and remarks from Mott's remarkable career. The editors have chosen selections representing important themes and events in her public life. Extensive annotations provide vibrant context and show Mott's engagement with allies and opponents. The speeches illuminate her passionate belief that her many causes were all intertwined. The result is an authoritative resource, one that enriches our understanding of Mott's views, rhetorical strategies, and still-powerful influence on American society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252040795
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	03/30/2017
Series:	Women, Gender, and Sexuality in American History
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) was a prominent reformer who agitated against slavery and co-organized the 1848 Seneca Falls convention. Christopher Densmore is the curator of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College and the author of Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator. Carol Faulkner is a professor of history at Syracuse University and the author of Lucretia Mott's Heresy: Abolition and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Nancy Hewitt is Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. Her books include Women's Activism and Social Change: Rochester, New York, 1822-1872. Beverly Wilson Palmer is a research associate at Pomona College and the editor or coeditor of numerous documentary editions, including Selected Letters of Lucretia Coffin Mott.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Editorial Policies xxix

Lucretia Mott Speaks: The Essential Speeches and Sermons

Twelfth Street Meeting, Philadelphia, 1818 3

Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, May 16 and 17, 1838 3

New England Non-Resistance Society, Chardon Street Chapel, Boston, September 25-27, 1839 4

Unitarian Chapel, August 9, 1840, Glasgow, Scotland 6

Marlboro Chapel, Boston, September 23, 1841 8

Rose Street Meeting, New York City, September 29, 1841 14

Manhattan Society, Asbury Church, New York City, September 29, 1841 15

Unitarian Church, Washington, D.C., January 15, 1843 16

Hicksite Meetinghouse, Rochester, New York, July 21, 1844 27

Unitarian Christians Convention, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, October 22, 1846 28

Anti-Sabbath Convention, The Melodeon, Boston, March 24, 1848 30

American Anti-Slavery Society, Broadway Tabernacle, New York City, May 9, 1848 39

Women's Rights Convention, Wesleyan Chapel, Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848 44

Women's Rights Convention, Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York, August 2, 1848 45

"Sermon to the Medical Students," Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, February 11, 1849 48

American Anti-Slavery Society, Minerva Rooms, New York City, May 8, 1849 55

Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, November 4, 1849 56

Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, November 6, 1849 64

"Discourse on Woman," Assembly Buildings, Philadelphia, December 17, 1849 68

Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, March 31, 1850 81

Women's Rights Convention, Brinley Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts, October 23-24, 1850 87

Isaac T. Hopper Memorial Service, Broadway Tabernacle, New York City, May 12, 1852 92

Women's Rights Convention, Horticultural Hall, West Chester, Pennsylvania, June 2-3, 1852 93

Women's Rights Convention, City Hall, Syracuse, New York, September 8-10, 1852 95

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Horticultural Hall, West Chester, Pennsylvania, October 25-26, 1852 100

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly Buildings, Philadelphia, December 15-16, 1852 102

Women's Rights Convention, Broadway Tabernacle, New York City, September 6-7, 1853 104

Women's Rights Convention, Melodeon Hall, Cleveland, October 5 and 7, 1853 110

Rose Street Meeting, New York City, November 11, 1855 120

Women's Rights Convention, Broadway Tabernacle, New York City, November 25-26, 1856 122

Yardleyville, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1858 127

American Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly Rooms, New York City, May 11, 1859 137

Anti-Slavery Sympathy Meeting, Assembly Buildings, Philadelphia, December 16, 1859 138

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Town-Hall, Kennett Square, October 25-26, 1860 139

Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City June 1, 1862 142

30th Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Concert Hall, Philadelphia, December 3-4, 1863 144

American Anti-Slavery Society, Church of the Puritans and Cooper Institute, New York City, May 10-11, 1864 148

Women's Rights Convention, Church of the Puritans, New York City, May 10, 1866 151

Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City, November 11, 1866 153

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, November 22-23, 1866 160

American Equal Rights Association, Church of the Puritans, New York City, May 9-10, 1867 163

Free Religious Association, Horticultural Hall, Boston, May 30, 1867 166

Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New York, November 24, 1867 171

Pennsylvania Peace Society, Assembly Buildings, Philadelphia, November 17-18, 1868 178

Race Street Meeting, Philadelphia, March 14, 1869 180

Women's Suffrage Meeting, Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York May 14, 1869 189

Pennsylvania Peace Society, Friends' Meeting House, Abington, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1869 191

Opening of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1869 195

Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly Buildings, March 24, 1870 196

American Anti-Slavery Society, Apollo Hall, New York City, April 9, 1870 197

Reform League, Steinway Hall, New York City, May 9, 1871 199

Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City, May 26, 1872 199

Funeral of Mary Ann W. Johnson, Home of Oliver Johnson, New York City, June 10, 1872 201

Free Religious Association, Tremont Temple, Boston, May 30, 1873 203

Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, Race Street, November 4, 1873 205

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Concert Hall, Philadelphia, April 14, 1875 207

Free Religious Association, Beethoven Hall, Boston, May 28, 1875 207

Women's Peace Festival, Institute Hall, Philadelphia, June 2, 1875 209

Women's Peace Festival, Mercantile Hall, Philadelphia, June 2, 1876 211

30th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York, July 19, 1878 214

Acknowledgments 217

Index 219

Editorial Reviews

"Many of the most evocative and informative entries in this collection are not ones Mott polished and edited for publication, but accounts of her words paraphrased or hurriedly recorded by reporters and scribes. Newspaper reports, in particular, contain vivid descriptions of her demeanour and manner of speaking, and the effect that she had on others in the room. Her impact was enormous." —Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"Eye-opening and invigorating. The editors have, quite sensibly, employed a light editorial hand, preferring to let Mott's speeches take center stage, and to let Mott herself stand in the spotlight. This is a wonderful collection."—Anne Boylan, author of Women's Rights in the United States: A History in Documents


"For those who want to delve deeply into the thinking of Lucretia Mott, this book offers an excellent look into her interrelated causes. . . . This collection shows how she managed to mention so many of her favorite topics in her talks."—Friends Journal

"This book lays excellent groundwork for much-needed scholarship.... General readers will be pleasantly surprised to find a lively, spirited, radical, complex woman who defies common stereotypes." —Quaker Studies

"This superb and authoritative collection of speeches and sermons of radical activist and renowned orator Lucretia Mott conveys the breadth and depth of Mott’s visionary leadership in abolition, women's rights, religious and political reform, and education and peace."—Ellen Ross, author of The Grief of God: Images of the Suffering Jesus in Late Medieval England

"Highly recommended."—Choice

From the Publisher