A Short Address to Females of Color, comes from Anna Elizabeth,  dated June 11, from Philadelphia:  writer calls for the 4th of July to be set apart as a day of “humiliation and prayer”   “Oh, sisters, let us pray …..”Let us pray that the Lord would hasten the time when glorious freedom will be given to every race ….fear not man ….the Lord reigns….”

Includes LINES, composed by unnamed female for The Liberator …. Here are some of the “lines” from this poem:

         How can you eat, how can you drink,
         How wear your finery and ne’er think,
         Of those poor souls, in bondage held,
         Whose painful labor is compelled?

         Gird up your loins, be firm, be strong,
         Support the right; condemn the wrong,
         So shall the Lord your ways approve,
         And save you by redeeming love.

By a Colored Lady from Middletown, July 29, 1831

 “……I am induced to write a few words of encouragement to us as a people….”

There is a statement about the qualities of the lady who conducts this Department, and several paragraphs from her pen, but without her name:

                                   Our Own Sex

  “We have not language sufficiently strong to express our feelings of the necessity there is, that our own sex should become general and efficient workers in the cause of emancipation.  ……….The situation of the slaves of our own sex, certainly claims in a pre-eminent degree the attention of American females …..Some have already flung off the unwonted carelessness that so long benumbed their hearts ……”

The article then is followed by a statement of the pleasure that the editor had in addressing the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Boston at a recent meeting, and concludes with the Constitution of the Society.

This is followed by a “spirited extract” from the tract by Mrs. Maria W. Steward (his spelling!)  :

“Let each one strive to excel in good housewifery, knowing that prudence and economy are the road to wealth ……..How long shall the fair daughters of Africa be compelled to bury their minds and talents beneath a load of iron pots and kettles……How long shall a
mean set of men flatter us with their smiles, and enrich themselves with our hard earnings —their wives fingers sparkling with rings, and they themselves laughing at our folly?…..”

In reference to the Colonization Society:    “ When this Society was organized, I was one of its warmest friends, and anticipated great good from its influence, both in Christianizing Africa and abolishing slavery in our country…… I read with some care, the arguments of that distinquished and philanthropist , W. L. Garrison,  in The Liberator, and was soon led to ask myself whether ‘this splendid scheme of benevolence’ was not a device of Satan, to rivet closer the fetters of the slaves, and to deepen the prejudice against the free colored people.  I now believe it is, and that it had its origin in the single                motive, to get rid of the free colored people, that the slave may be held in greater safety…..”

Reference to essay by young colored lady at Canterbury, who had been instructed by Miss Crandall.     Further evidence of a rising public voice among young women of color.

Long paragraphs from an Address delivered at the African Masonic Hall in Boston,  Feb 27, 1833 by Mrs. Maria W. Stewart

After proclaiming that “we sprung from one of the most learned nations of the whole earth”,  Maria  says:   “But it is no use for us to boast that we sprung from this most learned, and enlightened nation, for this day a thick mist of moral gloom hangs over millions of our race.  Our condition as a people has been low for hundreds of years, and it will continue to be so, unless, by true piety and virtue we strive, to regain that which we have lost.  White Americans, by their prudence, economy, and exertions, have sprung up and become one of the most flourishing nations in the world…….. Whilst our minds are vacant and starving for want of knowledge, theirs are filled to overflowing. Most of our color have been taught to stand in fear of the white man from their earliest infancy, to work as soon as they could walk, and call ‘master’ before they could scarce lisp the word mother.  …..But give the man of color an equal opportunity with the white, from the cradle to manhood, …….and you would discover the dignified  statesman, the man of science, and the philosopher.  But there is no such opportunity for the sons of Africa, and I fear that our powerful ones are fully determined that there never shall be…..O, ye sons of Africa, when will your voices  be heard in our legislative halls, in defiance of your enemies, contending for equal rights and liberty?  …….We have pursued the shadow, they  have obtained the substance; we have performed the labor, they have received the profits; we have planted the vines, they have eaten the fruits of them.”  (G promises that this is to be continued)

Notice of and constitution of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society

Notice of the death of a “Meritorious Female Abolitionist”, Elizabeth M. Chandler.  

Highly praised and recognized as one who had contributed often to the Genius of Emancipation and to The Liberator.

by Miss A.E. Grimke

Prior to printing portions of the Appeal, there are these comments, listing four reasons why Grimke says it is appropriate to the appeal to the women of the South. 

“She mentions four things which women can do:  You  can read on this subject, You can pray over this subject. You can speak on this subject. You can act on this subject.”  ….. the editor also says, Grimke calls upon the duty to break the law if it commands sin, and  “that if it causes me to suffer, I will let it takes its course unresistingly.”

Further extracts from Grimke’s Appeal follow in next issue.

Two black women, on board a ship, signal distress from cabin window. Some men of color, seeing this, get a writ of habeas corpus, and the women are freed from the custody of the Captain. A court case proceeds, and the Judge proclaims the women free. Then the article includes a dialogue with the agent of slaveholders.