Address to Free Colored Americans

Address to Free Colored Americans by An Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women is a stirring 1837 appeal that crystallizes the moral and political urgency of early American abolitionism. Delivered by a coalition that included Mary Parker, Lucretia Mott, the Grimké sisters, and Lydia Maria Child, the Address articulates the Convention’s pledge to oppose slavery, advocate for the enslaved, and press conscience-driven reform on a divided nation. As a concise non-fiction history essay and political statement, the Address blends moral argument, religious appeal, and practical resolve—calling on free Black communities and the wider public to recognize shared humanity and to act against injustice. Recorded against the backdrop of the first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women in New York City, the text illuminates the emergence of organized female activism and foreshadows the growing women’s rights movement. Readers encounter primary-source rhetoric that reveals how women reformers framed abolition as both a national sin and a site for female political engagement. Ideal for listeners of history, politics, and social justice, this short historical essay offers students, scholars, and curious readers a powerful primary document: a compact, eloquent testament to women-led abolitionism and the roots of American reform movements.