"…It is my duty to stand up here to-night and bear testimony against slavery. I have seen it -- I have seen it. I know it has horrors that can never be described. I was brought up under its wing: I witnessed for many years its demoralizing influences, and its destructiveness to human happiness. It is admitted by some that the slave is not happy under the worst forms of slavery.

But I have never seen a happy slave. I have seen him dance in his chains, it is true; but he was not happy.

There is a wide difference between happiness and mirth. Man cannot enjoy the former while his manhood is destroyed, and that part of the being which is necessary to the making, and to the enjoyment of happiness, is completely blotted out. 

We often hear the question asked, What shall we do?" Here is an opportunity for doing something now. Every man and every woman present may do something

by showing that we fear not a mob, and, in the midst of threatenings and reviling,

by opening our mouths for the dumb and pleading the cause of those who are ready to perish.


To work as we should in this cause, we must know what slavery is. Let me urge you then to buy the books which have been written on this subject and read them, and then lend them to your neighbors. Give your money no longer for things which pander to pride and lust, but aid in scattering 'the living coals of truth' upon the naked heart of this nation…"

-Angelina Grimké Weld, Speech at Pennsylvania Hall

January 11th is Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the US. Human Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. From Jan 1st-11th, we’ll be posting daily blogs with inspiration from the history of the movement to end slavery. Our resolution is to protect & defend the vulnerable and to restore & empower survivors. Join us in beginning 2012 by pausing to recharge our spirits as we carry on towards the end of slavery and the sexual exploitation of children.