The abolitionist Weld–Grimké wedding

The abolitionist Weld–Grimké wedding took place in Philadelphia in the evening of Monday, May 14, 1838. Theodore Weld and Angelina Grimké wed, at the house of Ann R. Frost, the bride's sister. Both were national leaders in the abolitionist movement. In fact, they met in a training class for abolitionist speakers and activists, which Weld taught.

The date was chosen because it coincided with the inauguration of abolitionism's great new venue, Pennsylvania Hall, with activists from all over the northeast in attendance. This was a triumphal day for American abolitionism: a grand building, whose well-lit main hall seated 3,000. There was a smaller lecture room, rooms for committees, and on the ground floor an abolitionist bookstore, newspaper, and a store selling slave-labor-(free produce).[1]

On Monday, a day of meetings, speeches, and reports was concluded with "what was, among abolitionists at least, the wedding of the century",[2] "an abolition wedding".[3]:98 Weld renounced any power or legal authority over his wife, other than that produced by love, and she vowed to love, not obey him. Present were Wm. Lloyd Garrison, editor-publisher of The Liberator, the philanthropist Lewis Tappan, Henry B. Stanton (soon to marry Elizabeth Cady Stanton), Henry C. Wright, Maria Weston Chapman, James G. Birney, 1840 Presidential candidate, Abby Kelley, Sarah Mapps Douglass, head of a school for African-American girls, and the bride's sister Sarah Grimké.[3]:96

The cake was made by a Black confectioner, using free produce sugar. Both a Black and a White minister gave blessings;[3]:97–98 the Black one was Theodore S. Wright.[4]

After the wedding

Angelina and Theodore remained married for the rest of their lives. The two and Sarah Grimké, who lived with them for many years, produced the following year the influential exposé American Slavery As It Is. They then moved to Washington, D.C., where Weld was involved in a forgotten but major issue at the time, ending slavery in the District of Columbia (see gag rule). For economic security they then became educators, running a boarding school.

Pennsylvania Hall was burned to the ground by pro-slavery men three days after it opened. Except for the burning of the White House and Capitol during the War of 1812, it was the largest case of arson in the United States as of that date.

References
  1. Tomek, Beverly C. (2015). "Pennsylvania Hall". Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
  2. Tomek, Beverly (2011). "Grimke–Weld Wedding". Universal Emancipation. Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights Movements in the Atlantic World.
  3. Tomek, Beverly (2014). Pennsylvania Hall: A "Legal Lynching" In the Shadow of the Liberty Bell. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199837601.
  4. Garrison, Wm. Lloyd (1971). The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume II: A House Dividing against Itself: 1836-1840. Belknap Press. p. 111. ISBN 0674526619.
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