Charles Calistus Burleigh (November 3, 1810 – June 13, 1878) was an American journalist and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

who fought against Connecticut's " Black Law" and enlisted participants in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. Burleigh was drawn into abolitionist work because of the racist persecution and harassment of

Prudence Crandall Prudence Crandall (September 3, 1803 – January 27, 1890) was an American schoolteacher and activist. She ran the first school for black girls ("young Ladies and little Misses of color") in the United States, located in Canterbury, Connecticut. ...

when she tried to open a school for educating young Black women in

Canterbury, Connecticut Canterbury is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,045 at the 2020 census. History The area was settled by English colonists in the 1680s as ''Peagscomsuck''. It consisted mainly of land north of Norwich, so ...

. Burleigh wrote an article denouncing the actions of the Connecticut authorities for a newspaper called ''The Genius of Temperance,'' which led to him being asked in 1833 to be the editor of a fledgling newspaper ''The Unionist'', out of

Brooklyn, Connecticut Brooklyn is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,450 at the 2020 census. The town center village is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. The district of East Brooklyn is listed ...

(home of Crandall's supporter

Samuel May Samuel Joseph May (September 12, 1797 – July 1, 1871) was an American reformer during the nineteenth century who championed education, women's rights, and abolition of slavery. May argued on behalf of all working people that the rights of h ...

). Burleigh was the antislavery editor of ''The Unionist'' and also the editor of '' The Pennsylvania Freeman'' after 1844. He served as secretary of the

American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this society ...

beginning in 1836, and was the editor of its annual reports. He traveled around the Northeast, particularly in Pennsylvania, visiting antislavery societies and helping other groups to organize their own anti-slavery groups. At the American Anti-Slavery Society convention in 1837 he promoted a resolution which called for allowing alleged fugitive slaves the right of trial by jury, he denounced the sin of slaveholding, and specifically highlighted contributions that women were making to the antislavery cause. Burleigh was a campaigner on many topics. He published a book, ''Thoughts on the Death Penalty,'' an early argument against

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. He was also in favor of women's rights and participated in the 1850

National Women's Rights Convention The National Women's Rights Convention was an annual series of meetings that increased the visibility of the early women's rights movement in the United States. First held in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the National Women's Rights Convention ...

in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was known as an effective and colorful orator, with very long hair and beard that he had vowed not to cut until slavery had ended in the United States.

Personal life

Burleigh was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, to Rinaldo Burleigh and Lydia Bradford, one of eight children including abolitionist Cyrus M. Burleigh. He attended Plainfield Academy and studied law; he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in Connecticut in 1835. He married Gertrude Kimber, a Quaker from

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially known as Chesco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the De ...

, on October 24, 1842, and they had three children, including the artist

Charles Calistus Burleigh, Jr. Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

He was killed by a passing railroad train in

Florence, Massachusetts Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, abolitionism, and educa ...

, in 1878.

References

External links

Thoughts on the Death Penalty
at Hathi Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Burleigh, Charles Calistus 1810 births 1878 deaths Abolitionists from Connecticut People from Plainfield, Connecticut