1807-1892

Our fellow-countrymen in chains!
Slaves – in a land of light and law!
Slaves – crouching on the very plains
Where rolled the storm of Freedom’s war!

“The Quaker Poet”

As a young man, this Massachusetts-born poet attracted the attention of William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the Free Press in Newburyport, MA. Garrison asked Whittier to contribute articles to that paper, which started Whittier’s long writing career.

Influenced by his family’s Quaker beliefs, Whittier became fiercely anti-slavery in his outlook.  He served in the Massachusetts legislature, helped found the Liberty party in 1839 and in 1854 was part of the genesis of the Republican party. For more than 30 years, Whittier devoted himself to the abolition of slavery in the United States.

He was known as a gentle person with fervent beliefs against slavery.