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Sarah Moore Grimké (November 26, 1792 – December 23, 1873) was an American abolitionist, writer, and member of the women's suffrage movement. Born in South Carolina to a prominent planter family, she later moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she became a Quaker and joined her younger sister Angelina Grimké in the abolition movement. The sisters extensively spoke out in public to oppose slavery and advocate for women's rights. ==Early life== Sarah Grimké – her parents sometimes called her "Sally"〔 – was born in South Carolina, the sixth〔Perry (2002), p. xi.〕 of 14 children and the second daughter〔 of Mary Smith and John Faucheraud Grimké, a rich plantation owner who was also an attorney and a judge in South Carolina. Sarah’s early experiences with education shaped her future as an abolitionist and feminist. Throughout her childhood, she was keenly aware of the inferiority of her own education when compared to her brothers’ classical one. Despite the fact that everyone around her recognized her remarkable intelligence, she was prevented from obtaining a substantive education or pursuing her dream of becoming an attorney, due to these dreams being considered "unwomanly."〔Lumpkin, Shirley. "American Women Prose Writers: 1820-1870" in Hudock, Amy E. and Rodier, Katharine. (eds.) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' v.239. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. From Literature Resource Center〕 She received education from private tutors on subjects considered appropriate for a young southern woman of the time,〔Taylor, Marion Ann and Heather E. Weir (2006). ''Let Her Speak for Herself: Nineteenth-Century Women Writing on Women in Genesis'', Baylor University Press, p. 42.〕 including learning French, painting with watercolors, playing the harpsichord, and doing embroidery.〔Sandra F. VanBurkleo, and Mary Jo Miles. (Grimké, Sarah Moore ), American National Biography Online, February 2000. Retrieved November 26, 2015.〕 Although, her father did relent to the extent of allowing her to teach herself geography, history and mathematics from the books in his library, and to read his law books; however he drew the line at her learning Latin.〔Perry (2002), p. 1.〕 Sarah’s mother Mary was a dedicated homemaker and an active member in the community. She was a leader in the Charleston’s Ladies Benevolent Society. Mary was also an active Episcopalian and consequently often devoted herself to the poor and to women incarcerated in a nearby prison. Mary's rigid beliefs and her many activities kept her from developing affectionate relationships with her children.〔Durso (2003).〕 Perhaps because she felt so confined herself, Sarah developed a connection to her family's slaves to an extent that unsettled her parents. From the time she was twelve years old, Sarah spent her Sunday afternoons teaching Bible classes to the young slaves on the plantation, an experience she found extremely frustrating. While she wanted desperately to teach them to read the scripture for themselves, and they had a longing for such learning, she was refused. Her parents claimed that literacy would only make the slaves unhappy and rebellious. They also suggested that mental exertion would make them unfit for physical labor. Furthermore, teaching slaves to read had been against the law in South Carolina since 1740. Sarah secretly taught Hetty, her personal slave, to read and write, but when her parents discovered the young tutor at work, the vehemence of her father’s response proved alarming. He was furious and nearly had the young slave girl whipped. Fear of causing trouble for the slaves themselves prevented Sarah from undertaking such a task again. Years afterward she reflected on the incident, writing "I took an almost malicious satisfaction in teaching my little waiting maid at night, when she was supposed to be occupied in combing and brushing my locks. The light was put out, the keyhole screened, and flat on our stomachs before the fire, with the spelling book under our eyes, we defied the laws of South Carolina."〔Perry (2002), p. 2.〕 Sarah's brother Thomas went off to Yale Law School in 1805.〔Perry (2002), p. 24.〕 During his visits back home, Thomas continued teaching Sarah new ideas about the dangers of Enlightenment and the importance of religion. These ideas, combined with her secret studies of the law, gave her some of the basis for her later work as an activist.〔 Her father told her that if she had been a man, she would have been the greatest lawyer in South Carolina.〔Perry (2002), p. 2. Lerner gives a somewhat different version, in which her father said "she would have made the greatest jurist in the country." Lerner (1998), p. 25.〕 Not only did she find the denial of education unfair, Sarah was further perplexed that while her parents and others within the community encouraged slaves to be baptized and to attend worship services, these believers were not viewed as true brothers and sisters in faith. From her youth, Sarah determined that religion should take a more proactive role in improving the lives of those who suffered most. Her religious quest took her first to Presbyterianism – she converted in 1817〔 – and then, in 1821, after she moved to Philadelphia, to the Quakers.〔 There, she became an outspoken advocate for education and suffrage for African-Americans and women.〔Grimké, Sarah. Letter addressed to Mary S. Parker, President of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, in (''Letters on the Equality of the Sexes''. )〕 By 1817, Sarah's father was seriously ill and the doctors of Charleston recommended he travel to Philadelphia to consult Philip Syng Physick. Despite her vehement objections, her father insisted that Sarah, then 26 years old, accompany him as his nursemaid. Sarah relented, and they left Charleston for the north in May 1819. When Physick found he could not help, he suggested that they take in the sea air of the fishing village of Long Branch, New Jersey, and they dutifully moved there and settled into a boardinghouse, where, after just a few weeks, John Faucheraud Grimké died.〔Perry (2002), pp. 34-37, 42.〕〔Ceplair (1989), p. xv.〕 As a result of her experience caring for her father, Sarah became more self-assured, independent, and morally responsible. She stayed in Philadelphia a few months after her father died and met Israel Morris, who would introduce her to Quakerism, specifically the writings of John Woolman.〔〔Lerner (1998)〕 She returned to Charleston, but decided that she would go back to Philadelphia to become a Quaker minister and leave her Episcopalian upbringing behind. She was stymied, however, when she was repeatedly ignored and shut out by the male-dominated council.〔 Becoming alienated, she later wrote "I think no criminal under sentence of death can look more fearfully to the day of execution than I do towards our Yearly Meeting."〔Perry (2002), p. 84.〕 She returned to Charleston in the spring of 1827 to “save” her sister Angelina from the limitations of the South. Angelina visited Sarah in Philadelphia from July to November of the same year and returned to Charleston committed to the Quaker faith. After leaving Charleston, Angelina and Sarah traveled around New England speaking in large parlors and small churches. Their speeches concerning abolition and women's rights reached thousands. In November 1829, Angelina joined her sister in Philadelphia.〔Ceplair (1989).〕 The influence Sarah had on Angelina may have come from the close relationship they had enjoyed since they were young. For years, Angelina called Sarah "mother", as Sarah was both her godmother and primary caretaker.〔 In 1868, Sarah discovered three illegitimate mixed-race nephews that her brother Henry had by his personal slave. Welcoming them into the family, she worked to provide funds to educate Archibald Grimké and Francis James Grimké, who went on to successful careers and marriages, and were leaders in the African-American community.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sarah Moore Grimké」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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