The image used in ‘The First Report of the Female Society for Birmingham, West-Bromwich, Wednesbury, Walsall, and their respective neighbourhoods’ shows a black woman.

‘Am I not a woman and a sister’ reads the legend arching over the female figure of Justice as she reaches towards a kneeling black slave woman, who holds her chained face and hands up to plea, as an appeal for compassion and mercy.

The motto on the medallions, “Am I not a Woman and a Sister”, formed part of the campaign for anti-slavery reform and reflects the experiences of black women and the role of women in the international crusade to eliminate slavery. The motto generally illustrates the fundamental role that words played in the campaign that took a century to succeed. It also generated another movement advocating the emancipation of black women from slavery at the same time as promoting their own freedom and the elevating the status of all females.

It was unique for women to have women in a position of power. The Birmingham Ladies Negro’s Friend Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves was established in 1825 and grew out of the friendship of Lucy Townsend and Mary Lloyd and their joint opposition to slavery. Both women were heavily involved in charitable work and committed to the anti-slavery cause. They met and became friends through meetings of the Bible Society. Lucy’s husband, the Reverend Charles Townsend, was an anti-slavery campaigner and a clergyman in West Bromwich. Mary Lloyd’s husband, Samuel Lloyd, was from a prominent Quaker family and head of the firm Lloyd, Foster and Co., Wednesbury.

The first meeting of the society was held in Lucy Townsend’s home in West Bromwich on the 8th April 1825, and in the first minutes was described as ‘a very large and respectable meeting of ladies’. Townsend and Lloyd worked together as joint secretaries of the Society which was the first active anti-slavery campaign group in the Britain. It was a union of women that represented a middle class social club. Amongst the supporters were offspring of members of the Lunar society. Members of the Committee included Mrs Moilliet, the daughter of James Keir, Miss Galton, Mrs Schimmelpenninck (Mary Anne Galton), Sophia Sturge, the sister of Joseph Sturge, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mrs Sneyd Edgeworth and Miss Wedgwood.

As the secretary of the society, Townsend, was described by her fellow anti-slavery campaigners as skilful at planning and implementation, persistent and successful in stimulating others. She used her ability as an inexorable organiser in her connections and correspondence with leading male and female abolitionists. She was influential in persuading others to set up female anti-slavery societies locally, nationally and internationally. The main aim was of the society was “for the amelioration of the condition of unhappy children of Africa.” Therefore, focussing on the improving the slave’s conditions from a conservative and independent perspective.

The establishment of the Birmingham Female anti-slavery society inspired the development of other anti-slavery groups that developed throughout Britain. It was an ‘’unofficial national organisation” for female abolitionists. Birmingham’s initiative prompted the main antislavery society, in London, to set up a subcommittee to formulate and promote similar societies in England. The network expanded across most English counties with at least seventy-three ladies associations established between 1825-1833.

The Birmingham model was followed by the other female societies which raised funds for their cause through initial members subscriptions, which ranged from five to twelve shillings, members were also expected to canvass and raise funds for the society. By 1826 the female society had a budget of £907 from 350 women in 26 localities. This was more than half the sums handed over from the national antislavery society. Although local, The Birmingham Female anti-slavery society acted as a national centre society with a vast amount of activities and funds directed through them in 1827, they distributed nearly 35,000 items of propaganda, regularly sent £50 to the London anti-slavery society and spent more than £500 a year on abolitionist literature. The female societies ability to generate income set them apart from their male counterparts.

The association’s approach was to reproduce prints and republish newspaper articles drawing attention to the evils of slavery. It disseminated information by pamphlets, compiled annual reports, and recorded minutes relating to their activities. Members wrote letters and petitions urging others to support their cause. Women rooted anti-slavery activity in their domestic lives, bringing free produce goods into their homes, to be eaten, used and worn. ‘Women’s work’ of sewing, women created a powerful means of expressing their anti-slavery activism. Women also sewed free cotton into goods which were sold at anti-slavery and free produce fairs, which raised valuable funds for the cause. In short, whilst creating a strong domestic base for anti-slavery goods, women negotiated wider positions within the three ‘spheres’ of influence; from the domestic sphere of home, to the ‘intermediate’ or ‘social sphere,’ which encompassed “organised philanthropic work for women,” and into the third, or public sphere of commerce and politics.

They supported education as a means of solving the problem of freed slaves, focusing on aid to blacks in British territories. The main drive of the group was to draw the public attention to the plight of the female slave.

Jasmine Williams

 

Bibliography:

Billington Louis and Billington, Rosamund. ”A Burning Zeal for righteousness” Women in the British anti-slavery movement, 1820-1860’, in Jane Rendall (ed Equal or Different: Women’s Politics, 1800-1914 (Basingstoke Macmillian 1985)
Female Society for Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Walsall and their Respective Neighbourhoods. second report
Halbersleben, L Karen Women’s Participation In The British Antislavery Movement 1824-1865 (1993)
Ladies society for the relief of Negro Slaves first report 1825-1826 (MS 3173/2/1)
Midgley Clare Women Against Slavery, The British Campaigners 1780-1870 (1995)
Minute book of the Birmingham ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves.