Women Write to Correct the Wrongs:
Abolitionists and Women's Rights Journalists in Antebellum America

Caricature of Frances “Fanny” Wright, whose intellectual grasp far exceeded that of the cartoonist. The reference to Wright as a “gabbler” probably refers to her 1829 lecture tour – when both men and women paid admission to hear Wright speak on such topics as “The Nature of Knowledge,” an early examination of the philosophical field of epistemology. Library of Congress LC-USZC2-599

Frances Wright predated other nineteenth-century idealists by so many years that her unique career sometimes is overlooked because she was so far ahead of her time. Born wealthy in Scotland in 1795, she made her first visit to the United States in 1824, inviting scandal when she and her sister traveled with Revolutionary War hero Lafayette on his retrospective tour. As an abolitionist, she lived what she lectured: she bought land near Memphis and tried to establish a colony for blacks whose freedom she had purchased. When that did not work out, she personally escorted former slaves to the new state of Haiti. Lectures were her most common form of communication, but Wright also directed her energies to print. In 1829, Wright joined fellow utopian Robert Owen as co-editor of the Free Enquirer. She published articles about equal education for women, more equitable marriage laws, the taboo topic of birth control, and the abolition of capital punishment.

1838 sermon delivered by Rev. Moses Parks. He claims that Fanny Wright has abandoned her principles for the Whig Party. Following is a response written by Fanny Wright claiming that she has not been “bought” by the Whig Party, nor has she abandoned her abolitionist politics. Library of Congress Portfolio 56, Folder 35

Frances Wright's native Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire in 1833, when the abolitionist movement in the United States was just getting started. American women sought a place early in that movement, but their initial rejection by the male leadership prompted the organization of a women's rights society in 1848. During the three decades prior to the Civil War, female abolitionists and women's rights advocates employed the press as a medium for discussion and debate.

A flier printed in 1860 calling Southern men to a meeting to organize against the abolitionist press. Library of Congress Portfolio 14, Folder 24