Sunday, May 2, 2010

Who is Charlotte Forten?

As a woman , I represent a person who is dedicated to bettering my fellow kinsman. Living in a time where we were at the bottom of the ranks, I acquired a drive in me to make a difference. I am Charlotte Forten Grimke. All my life i was constantly surrounded with intellects and activists. I was born into a very wealthy family of black abolitionists. My grandparents were James and Charlotte Forten, very prominent figures in the abolitionists movement. My aunts, Sarah, Harriet, and Margaretta Forten established the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Majority of my childhood, I lived in Salem, Massachusetts. In Salem, I attended predominantly white schools; Higginson Grammar School and the Salem Normal School. After teaching at the Epes School in 1856, I rushed back to my hometown of Philadelphia because I had tuberculosis. I went to St. Helena Islands in South Carolina, to an abandoned plantation to open up a school. With about 150 free black children, we all packed ourselves into a small baptist church. After two years, I had to leave because I became sick again. When the Civil War was finally over I had a job that helped ex slaves find jobs and housing. On December 19, 1878, I married my companion, Francis Grimke. He was a law student and minsiter. His church was the home to push all of his civil right ideas. As I continued to fight for the education and equality of African Americans, I was called on home in 1914.

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