When we think of abolitionists, we remember some familiar names from our history books - William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th, Bronson Alcott(father of Louisa May). Of these folks who were white, they were all upper class, Northeast liberals. However, two women from South Carolina, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, who were born into a wealthy slave-owning family came to abhor the South's "peculiar institution." These two remarkable sisters opposed their family, friends and society to speak their conscience about the evils of slavery which they personally witnessed. Moreover, they campaigned for the abolition of slavery, racial equality and women's rights years before Seneca Falls!
In her latest novel, The Invention of Wings,Sue Monk Kidd, author of the Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, gives voice to the Grimke sisters as well as a fictionalized slave who was given to Sarah Grimke as a birthday gift on her eleventh birthday. In beautifully written dialog, Kidde brings to the page a woman born into slavery who managed to survive a brutal system which divided families and dehumanized both the slave and the slave owner. Kidd also uses the quilts often made by slave women to tell their stories, several of which are currently on display in Washington and Boston. Denmark Vesey, a freed slave, who organized one of the few documented slave revolts is also a character in this book.
All in all, this is an eye-opening book, which is difficult to put down. This would be an excellent choice for a book discussion group and I hope Hollywood starts working on a movie version.
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