|
Sidney Howard Gay (1814–1888) was an American journalist and abolitionist. == Early life == Gay was born in 1814 to the lawyer Ebenezer Gay and Mary Alleyne Otis, niece of American Revolutionary activists James Otis, Jr., and Mercy Otis Warren. On his father's side, he was descended from Governor William Bradford, a founder of the Plymouth Colony, who arrived on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. On his mother's side, he was descended from John Otis, who settled in Hingham in 1635.〔Descendent of Gay who prefers to remain anonymous〕 Sydney's father, Ebenezer Gay, was a prosperous but unhappy attorney who wanted one of his sons to join his practice. Sydney's older brothers did not meet Ebenezer's expectations, and he decided to prepare Sydney for a legal career by sending him to Harvard College. But Sydney was 15 years old and could not adjust to being away from home. He became ill and had to withdraw from his classes. Ebenezer was disappointed when Sydney refused to return to the college. Sydney set his sights on being a businessman and persuaded his father to loan him money for several unsuccessful business ventures. While he was trying desperately to start a mercantile enterprise in New Orleans, his sister, Francis, informed him that Angelina Grimké had spoken in Hingham against slavery, and she had greatly impressed their mother. Sydney informed Francis that abolitionists were fanatics, and that he wanted no one in the family to associate with them. When his New Orleans venture failed miserably, Sydney returned to his father's home, ill and ashamed. Withdrawing into his father's library, he read and thought deeply about the slavery issue, and to everyone's amazement, announced that he was an abolitionist. Ebenezer still harbored hopes that Sydney would join his law practice, but he refused to take the lawyer's oath to uphold the United States Constitution, because the Constitution sanctioned slavery. He joined the local Antislavery Society, started writing abolitionist articles for the ''Hingham Patriot'', joined William Lloyd Garrison's American Abolition Society, and traveled on a One Hundred Convention tour with Frederick Douglass. In 1843, he moved to New York City to become resident editor of the ''National Anti-Slavery Standard'', a post he would hold for 14 years. In 1845, he married Elizabeth Johns Neall, the daughter of Philadelphia's prominent Quaker abolitionist Daniel Neall. 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「Sydney Howard Gay」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|