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The Grimke Sisters
 Ceramic Sculpture   
42" x 13" x 6"

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The Grimke Sisters
Sarah (1792-1873)
Angelina (1805-1879)

Sarah and Angelia grew up two of 14 children on a plantation in South Carolina. Their father was a judge and advocated for slavery and the subordination of women. When Sarah was eight years old she witnessed the whipping of a slave and tried to run away from home to a place where there was no slavery. Later, in violation of the law Sarah taught her personal slave how to read.

Sarah wanted to go to college to be a lawyer, but her father would not allow it. Because the family had so many children Sarah became the godmother to Angelina and was put in charge of her education. The two became very close and shared a desire to speak out on the evils of slavery. Angelina eventually wrote a letter to editor of a newspaper advocating for abolition. Following publication they were rebuked by their Quaker community and forced to choose: recant the letter and stay in good standing in the community or be cast out and oppose slavery. The two chose the later.

Abolitionists sought them out to speak to small groups of women. In 1836 they became the first female public speakers in the United States. As a result of the insult and abuse they received for women in the public sphere, they became feminists. Their advocacy for slaves and women came from their deeply held religious convictions and biblical arguments for equality. Their writings on women's rights pre dated the same arguments of the modern feminist moment by 150 years. In response to a group of ministers who reprimanded the sisters for stepping out of "woman's proper sphere" of silence and subordination, Sarah wrote, "All I ask of my brethren, is that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on that ground God destined us to occupy.