Sister Societies: Women's Antislavery Organizations in Antebellum America Book

Salerno provides fresh insight on the origins and evolution of women's activism in the United States by examining more than 200 exclusively female antislavery societies that persisted from the 1820s through the Civil War. These societies were home to a surprising degree of diversity. Whether black or white, churchgoing or come-outer, radical or conservative, members found temporary unity in a common cause and the bonds of womanhood.As women's activism evolved, members practiced quiet forms of resistance such as sewing clothing for fugitive slaves, embroidering antislavery slogans on linen goods, and boycotting the products of slave labor. At the same time, they increasingly engaged in public protest by signing petitions, sponsoring conventions, circulating antislavery propaganda, and raising funds for the cause. Salerno looks closely at the ways in which members defined their work as political or moral, as well as how the surrounding society viewed it, to fine-tune our understanding of a critical moment in the history of women's activism.