Informed by Empathy

From And the Spirit Moved Them by Helen LaKelly Hunt, Feminist Press (New York, 2017)

(This excerpt from p. 6 refers to integrated meetings of women abolitionists in the 1830’s)

Focusing on the issues of slavery, the abolitionist feminists practiced empathy at their weekly sewing circles, learning “sympathy for the slave,” which became a key tenet of their movement.  While the women were sewing, each took a turn standing up to read a passage from a slave narrative.  They struggled to put themselves in a position to feel what it was like to be auctioned off and owned, to be separated from one’s children or parents or spouse.  “Let every slaveholder apply these queries to his own heart,” Angelina Grimke challenged them. “Am I willing to be a slave?  Am I willing to see my mother a slave, or my father, my sister or my brother?” This is one of the many ways the women strove to make their organization personal, relational, and informed by empathy.

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