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 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 ...

. May argued on behalf of all working people that the rights of humanity were more important than the rights of property, and advocated for minimum wages and legal limitations on the amassing of wealth. He was born on September 12, 1797, in an upper-class Boston area. May was the son of Colonel Joseph May, a merchant, and Dorothy Sewell, who was descended from or connected to many of the leading families of colonial Massachusetts, including the Quincys and the Hancocks. His sister was Abby May Alcott, mother of novelist Louisa May Alcott. In 1825, he married Lucretia Flagge Coffin with whom he had five children. Author

Eve LaPlante Eve LaPlante is an American writer of historical non-fiction. LaPlante has published non-fiction books and many articles and essays, primarily about New England historical subjects, including some of her early American ancestors such as Anne Hut ...

, who wrote several books about his sister Abby May Alcott and a book about Sewall ancestor Judge

Samuel Sewall Samuel Sewall (; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay ''The Selling ...

, is one of his direct descendants.

Education and early career

May was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1797 to Joseph May and Dorothy May (née Sewall). When he was four years old his six year old brother Edward died while they were at play in their barn. May claimed that the loss of his brother and the dreams he had following the fatal accident led him to devote his life to God and inspired his passion to "rectify the world's wrongs." He started attending Harvard in 1813 at the age of fifteen; during his junior year he chose to become a minister. In addition, while he was at Harvard and afterwards, he taught school in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confl ...

. During this time, he met many prominent Unitarians and activists, including

Noah Worcester Noah Worcester (November 25, 1758 – October 31, 1837) was a Unitarian clergyman and a seminal figure in the history of American pacifism. Life Worcester was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, to a father of the same name, who had been one of the f ...

, who instilled in May the idea of peaceful opposition. He was in a party that was one of the first to travel on the

Crawford Path The Crawford Path is an hiking trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire that is considered to be the United States' oldest continuously maintained hiking trail. It travels from Crawford Notch to the summit of Mount Washington (Agiocochook ...

, opened in 1819 by Abel and Ethan Crawford as a route to the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and today considered to be the oldest White Mountains trail in continuous use. May graduated from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

in 1820 and became a Unitarian minister. (See Harvard Divinity School and Unitarianism.) Following his graduation, he considered preaching in New York City and Richmond, Virginia, prior to accepting a position in

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 ...

, as the only Unitarian minister in that state. He came to the forefront of the Unitarian movement and became well known throughout New England as he attempted to make reforms and establish Unitarian churches. In 1825, he married Lucretia Flagge Coffin, with whom he had five children: Joseph May, John Edward May, Charlotte Coffin (May) Wilkinson, Rev. Joseph May and George Emerson May. Their eldest son named Joseph died young. They also named a later son Joseph, in honor of him and May's father, Colonel Joseph May.

Early reform

May began a biweekly publication, ''The Liberal Christian'', in January 1823; its main goal was to explain the Unitarian theology. He helped in the formation of Windham County Peace Society in 1826; in 1827, May organized a statewide convention for school reform in Connecticut, and he started a series of lectures in 1828. Meanwhile, he also belonged to the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

, whose purpose was to send free blacks to (not "back to") Africa. May's belief in perfectionism through imitation of the life of Jesus Christ strongly influenced his involvement in reform movements. A pacifist, he actively participated in establishing peace societies, speaking out against the death penalty, and advocating nonresistance. He practiced this last belief to the extent of rejecting self-defense. He became a leader in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

, believing it to be a form of abolitionism, since he saw men as "slaves" to drink. He was perhaps most renowned for his work in education reform, as he sought to improve facilities, teachers, and curriculum in public elementary schools. May believed schools should be racially integrated and coeducational, and he advocated the philosophy of Swiss theorist

Johann Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (, ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking r ...

. He spent time tutoring his sister Abigail May in philosophy and the humanities and wrote in a letter to her, "What you say relative to the need for universal education is certainly true. Nothing is of unimportance in the formation of the mind."

Involvement in abolitionism

In 1830, May happened to meet and create a strong friendship with Wm. Lloyd Garrison, which pushed him into the abolitionist movement. Although his abolitionist views alienated his family, friends, and other clergymen, he remained true to his beliefs. He helped Garrison found the

New England Anti-Slavery Society The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, headquartered in Boston, was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Its roots were in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ...

, the American Anti-Slavery Society, and the

New England Non-Resistance Society The New England Non-Resistance Society was an American peace group founded at a special peace convention organized by William Lloyd Garrison, in Boston in September 1838.Peter Brock ''Pacifism in the United States, from the Colonial era to the First ...

, in addition to working for the

Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, headquartered in Boston, was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Its roots were in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ' ...

. He served as one of the writers for the constitutions of some of these societies, and as a lecturer and general agent for the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Fighting for racial equality and better schools, May assisted

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. ...

in the 1830s when residents of

Canterbury, Connecticut Canterbury is a New England town, town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,045 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The area was settled by English colonists in the 1680s as ''Peagscomsuck''. It c ...

, through the state legislature, made it illegal for her to run her

Canterbury Female Boarding School The Canterbury Female Boarding School, in Canterbury, Connecticut, was operated by its founder, Prudence Crandall, from 1831 to 1834. When townspeople would not allow African-American girls to enroll, Crandall decided to turn it into a school for ...

for "young Ladies and little Misses of color". This experience caused him to abandon his support for the

colonization movement The back-to-Africa movement was based on the widespread belief among some European Americans in the 18th and 19th century United States that African Americans would want to return to the continent of Africa. In general, the political movement wa ...

, since Andrew T. Judson, Connecticut's leading colonizationist, led the attack on Crandall's school. May was one of the delegates from the United States who attended the

World Anti-Slavery Convention The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The ex ...

in London in 1840. May became pastor of the Unitarian Church of the Messiah of Syracuse, New York, in 1845, serving until 1868. He fought the

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most cont ...

by making announcements during his sermons of fugitive slaves in the area and taking collections on their behalf, as well as aiding escaped slaves along 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. ...

. As a prominent abolitionist in the city, May, with the help of many Liberty Party members, including

Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidat ...

and

Samuel Ringgold Ward Samuel Ringgold Ward (October 17, 1817 – ) was an African American who escaped enslavement to become an abolitionist, newspaper editor, labor leader, and Congregational church minister. He was author of the influential book ''Autobiograp ...

, planned and successfully executed the rescue of Jerry McHenry, a man arrested as a fugitive slave, from the police. In addition to fighting for the abolition of slavery, he fought for the equality of free Blacks in his congregations by allowing them to sit in the front as opposed to the segregated rear pews. This act resulted in his reproach by white congregation members and also in his quitting some of his parishes. These actions, particularly late in the 1850s and immediately after

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

was elected President in 1860, led abolitionism's opponents to violently attack May as well as burn him in effigy.

Work for women's rights

In addition to speaking and writing pamphlets and articles concerning abolitionism, May was a leading advocate in women's rights and suffrage. Most notably, he wrote ''The Rights and Condition of Women'' in 1846 in favor of giving women the right to vote and allowing them equality in all aspects of life. May's work with the women's movement prompted him to move towards socialist economic views including redistribution of the nation's wealth, overhaul of the legal system, and a "soak-the-rich" income tax. He published a variety of other writings including ''"Education of the Faculties"'' (Boston, 1846); ''"Revival of Education"'' (Syracuse, New York, 1855): and ''"Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict"'' (Boston, 1868).

Final years and legacy

By the time of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, May had long been torn between his commitment to pacifism and his growing belief that slavery could not be destroyed without violence. He felt that the use of force against the Southern rebellion was necessary. Following the war and success of emancipation, May continued his work for racial, sexual, economic, and educational equality until the end of his life, including service as president of the Syracuse public school district. Samuel Joseph May died on July 1, 1871, in Syracuse, New York. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse, New York.

The May pamphlet collection

May donated a collection of more than 10,000 works to the Cornell University Library in 1870. These included pamphlets, leaflets, and other local, regional, and national anti-slavery documents. Abolitionists Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Gerrit Smith issued an appeal for additional contributions to the collection so that the literature of the anti-slavery movement would be "preserved and handed down, that the purposes and the spirit, the methods and the aims of the Abolitionists should be clearly known and understood by future generations." In 1999, the Cornell University Library received a $331,000 grant "to catalog, conserve, and digitize the collection." This has been completed, and the collection is available online..

Legacy

In 1885, the Unitarian Church of the Messiah, in Syracuse, was renamed in May's honor to May Memorial Unitarian Church; it is now the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society (MMUUS).

References

Notes

External links

Samuel Joseph May. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 12th, 1797. Died in Syracuse, New York, July 1st, 1871.
Syracuse: Syracuse Journal Office, 1871.
Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Cornell Library

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Samuel 1797 births 1871 deaths Harvard Divinity School alumni Abolitionists from Boston Activists from Syracuse, New York 19th-century Unitarian clergy Underground Railroad people Clergy from Boston Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York) Sewall family Quincy family Alcott family American temperance activists American suffragists Underground Railroad locations African-American history of Connecticut People from Brooklyn, Connecticut Religious leaders from Connecticut Religious leaders from Syracuse, New York