Felix Holbrook was a Black activist living in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

during the mid- to late-eighteenth century. A slave for many years, he was a staunch advocate of

abolitionism 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 Britis ...

. He placed an ad in a Boston

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

asking for his freedom, and those who would aid him would be taking an honorable position against those trying to enslave them. Holbrook said that he understood colonialist's desire for political and religious freedom. He requested a position where he could earn the money to buy his freedom and return to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. His intention was to obtain his freedom through peaceful, lawful means. He wrote: “We ask you for relief, which as a man, we have a right to do”.

Notes

Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{US-activist-stub 18th-century African-American people 18th-century American slaves African-American activists American freedmen People from Boston People from Rhode Island