Margaretta Forten (September 11, 1806 – January 13, 1875) was an African-American

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

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 ...

.Alexander, Leslie
''Encyclopedia of African American History, Volume 1''
ABC-CLIO (2010), p. 1045."Margaretta Forten"
on

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

Biography

Margaretta Forten was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 1806. Her parents, Charlotte Vandine Forten and

James Forten James Forten (September 2, 1766March 4, 1842) was an African-American abolitionist and wealthy businessman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born free in the city, he became a sailmaker after the American Revolutionary War. Following an apprenticesh ...

, were abolitionists, and her father founded the American Moral Reform Society.Smith, Jessie Carney and Wynn, Linda T
''Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience''
Visible Ink Press, 2009, p. 242. Due to the exclusion of women from 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 ...

, Forten, with her mother Charlotte and sisters

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

and Harriet, co-founded the

Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS) was founded in December 1833 and dissolved in March 1870 following the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It was founded by eighteen women, including Mary ...

with ten other women in 1833.Christian, Charles Melvin and Bennett, Sari J
''Black Saga: The African American Experience : a Chronology''
Basic Civitas Books, 1998, p. 1183. The goal of this new society was to include women in the activism being done for the abolition of slavery, and "to elevate the people of color from their present degraded situation to the full enjoyment of their rights and to increased usefulness in society." (Brown, 145) Forten often served as recording secretary or treasurer of the Society, as well as helping to draw up its organizational charter and serving on its educational committee. She offered the Society's last resolution, which praised the post-civil war amendments as a success for the anti-slavery cause. The Society distinguished itself at the time as the first of its kind in the United States to be interracial. Although the Society was predominantly white, historian Janice Sumler-Lewis claims the efforts of the Forten women in its key offices enabled it to reflect a black abolitionist perspective that oftentimes was more militant. Forten toured and gave speeches in favor of women's suffrage, as well as helping petition drives for the cause. She also worked as a teacher, teaching at a school run by

Sarah Mapps Douglass Sarah Mapps Douglass (September 9, 1806 – September 8, 1882) was an American educator, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer. Her painted images on her written letters may be the first or earliest survivi ...

in the 1840s, and opening her own school in 1850.

Later life and death

Having never married, Forten returned to her childhood home in Philadelphia following the death of her father. She continued to reside there until her death at the age of 68 in Philadelphia on January 14, 1875. She is buried at the Saint James the Less Episcopal Churchyard Cemetery in Philadelphia.Rachlin, Morgan
"Biographical Sketch of Margaretta Forten, 1806-1875"
Bethesda, Maryland: Alexander Street, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forten, Margaretta American suffragists African-American abolitionists American women activists African-American activists Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania 19th-century American women educators 1806 births 1875 deaths Forten family African-American suffragists 19th-century American educators Women civil rights activists Burials at the Church of St. James the Less

Biography

Later life and death

See also

References