The Grimké Sisters Through The Civil War - The Early Years | Sisterhood: SC Suffragists - Episode 1

Sarah and Angelina Grimké worked tirelessly for both abolition, and women’s suffrage. The Grimké sisters were the first to say, in print, that women deserved to live alongside men with an equal political footing. They were the first to connect abolitionism with feminism.

Sarah and Angelina Grimké are the first South Carolina-related women to publicly and passionately embrace the cause for women’s suffrage. Their story begins in Charleston, South Carolina, where their bond was strong, even from an early age. Their father, John Faucheraud Grimké served as a colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Witnessing the cruel treatment of slaves greatly disturbed Sarah and Angelina Grimké during their childhoods.

In the summer months, the Grimkés would travel to the estate in Belmont, to escape the Charleston heat. Their mother, Mary Smith Grimké was reputed to be the epitome of a cruel slave mistress. After spending time in Philadelphia, the Grimké sisters’ religious experiences would drive them towards fighting for abolition.

Standards

• 5.2.CX Contextualize the post-war economic climate on the cultural landscape throughout the United States and South Carolina.
• 8.3.CO Compare the debates between South Carolina and the federal government regarding slavery, federalism, and the Constitution.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the debates, heightened by Westward Expansion, over federal and state power concerning slavery, and the government's role in protecting and securing natural rights.
• 8.3.CC Analyze debates and efforts to recognize the natural rights of marginalized groups during the period of expansion and sectionalism.
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the continuities and changes of the experiences of marginalized groups such as African Americans, Native Americans and women, as the U.S. expanded westward and grappled with the development of new states.
• 8.4.CO Compare perspectives toward reform that engaged during the Progressive Era.
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into how new state and federal Progressive legislation affected individuals and businesses in South Carolina and the US. The indicator was designed to promote inquiry into the new perspectives that emerged regarding social and political change.
• 8.4.CX Evaluate South Carolinians’ struggle to create an understanding of their post-Civil War position within the state, the country, and the world.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into how the former planter class, African Americans, women, and others adjusted to, gained, lost, and/or regained position and status during Reconstruction. This indicator was also written to foster inquiry into how South Carolina worked with a stronger federal government and expanding international markets.
• USHC.3.CE Assess the causes and effects of significant turning points in the Populist and Progressive era from 1877–1924.

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