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Abolition logo hi-res

This image was an often-used emblem of the abolition movement.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), an escaped slave, became one of the most charismatic and forceful leaders of the American abolition movement. He spent the most productive twenty-five years of his life in Rochester, where he excelled as an orator and as the editor of the newspaper The North Star and other renowned anti-slavery publications. Though he moved to Washington, D. C., in 1872, he continued to think of Rochester as his true home and was buried there following his death.

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) began her career in activism as an abolitionist. She worked closely with Frederick Douglass and others, helping to make Rochester one of the nation's centers of abolitionist ferment, before emerging as one of the three major leaders of the woman suffrage movement alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage -- both of whom had also begun their activist careers in abolition.

Gerrit Smith

Gerrit Smith

Gerrit Smith (1797–1874) was pre-Civil War America’s foremost philanthropist and reformer. The Peterboro resident became a seminal figure in the abolition movement, and major participant in the Underground Railroad; he owned most of the Oswego waterfront, through which hundreds escaped to freedom in Canada. He conducted the first completed antislavery meeting in New York. He was also one of the "Secret Six" wealthy Northerners who funded John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, though it is unclear to what degree Smith was privy to Brown's full intentions.

Associated Sites

Associated Historical Events

Second Liberty League Convention

January 13–14, 1848

The Jerry Rescue

October 1, 1851

National Liberty Convention

September 30, 1852

Rochester Antislavery Convention

February 13–14, 1857

Death of Hezekiah Joslyn

October 30, 1865

Funeral of Gerrit Smith

December 31, 1874

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