The Trailblazer that History Forgot: The Historical Erasure of Abby Kelley Foster

by Maddie McAllister

Introduction
While interning at Worcester Historical Museum this summer, I was tasked with transcribing over one hundred letters sent to and from radical abolitionist and women’s rights activist Abby Kelley Foster over the course of the nineteenth century. Although I had never heard Abby’s name before, I quickly learned just how much she meant to the people of Worcester, especially the historians I was working closely with. As a hometown hero, a radical in her time, and an inspiration to the activists of the modern era, Abby Kelley Foster is Worcester’s pride and joy, and her impact extended far beyond the Heart of the Commonwealth. Why, then, does her name remain unfamiliar to so many?

Who Was Abby Kelley Foster?
Abigail Kelley Foster was born on January 15, 1811 to Wing and Lydia Kelley in Pelham Massachusetts. Her family moved shortly after she was born and she was raised and educated in Worcester. Abby became interested in the Anti-Slavery movement after attending a lecture by well-known abolitionist and journalist William Lloyd Garrison in Lynn, Massachusetts. Abby worked as a schoolteacher for several years before making the decision to devote her life to abolition in 1837, after which she spent decades of her life traveling and lecturing against slavery.

Abby married Stephen Symonds Foster, another leader in the fight against slavery, in 1845. A manuscript compiled by the Historical Records Survey Works Progress Administration in 1938 notes “that two such earnest young people should eventually meet was to be expected” and refers to their thirty-six-year-long marriage as “the union of two of the most vital forces in the long battle against Slavery.”

The Fosters purchased Liberty Farm, located in the Tatnuck district of Worcester, two years later. It served as both a station of the Underground Railroad and the site of the Fosters’ protest in favor of women’s suffrage as they continuously refused to pay taxes on the property, claiming that because Abby was not allowed to vote, taxing the jointly-owned property was a case of taxation without representation.

Abby gave birth to her and Stephen’s only daughter, Paulina Wright “Alla” Foster, on May 19, 1847. She continued her fight for human rights until her death in 1887. 

Importance & Impact
Despite her absence from today’s history books, Abby’s wholehearted devotion to justice made her a well-known abolitionist and women’s rights activist in her own time. In an 1852 letter to Abby, Sallie Holley notes that “All along my way I hear “Abby Kelley” spoken of in terms of love and admiration.” Abby was sought after as a lecturer – In 1840, Mary Clark wrote on behalf of the Concord Female Anti Slavery Society that “we feel the need of an efficient agent, a female agent, who can… speak to the hearts of the people – some one who will command the attention of the minds and enlist the understandings and the hearts of those with whom they come in contact. And our eyes are turned at once to you.” Friends of the cause were awed by her dedication – says Mary P. Chase in a 1846 letter to Stephen Foster, “O how I wish there were thousands in the world like her, whose spirits could never rest so long as a single member of the human family is groaning in servitude & crushed & imbruted by cruel despotism.” J.O. White sings her praises in his own letter, referring to Abby as “she whose name is associated with all that is dear in the cause of humanity & is dear to all the friends of freedom in the land.” Abby is even referenced in poetry, in well-known Romantic poet James Russell Lowell’s “Letter from Boston”:

“A Judith there, turned Quakeress,
Sits Abby in her modern dress,
No nobler gift of heart or brain,
No life more white from spot or stain,
Was e’er on freedom’s altar laid,
Than hers – the simple Quaker Maid.”

Abby Kelley Foster was a charismatic lecturer, a devoted activist, and a kind-hearted and selfless champion of the Anti-Slavery cause. She influenced celebrated activists like Lucy Stone and Susan B. Anthony, and was well-connected to a network of abolitionists and women’s rights activists whose names remain well-known today, often corresponding with names like William Lloyd Garrison and Angelina Grimké and traveling with Anti-Slavery speakers like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. In a 1852 letter to her then-five-year-old daughter, Alla, Abby casually notes that the nice paper on which she writes was given to her by notable women’s rights leader “Mrs. [Elizabeth Cady] Stanton”: “Have you seen what a pretty stamp there is on this paper? It was given me by Mrs. Stanton, and a lot more of very nice paper, so I can write you a lot of letters on nice paper.” Given her connections, her hard work, and her influence, why is Abby Kelley Foster’s name so absent from our history books and common consciousness?

The “pretty stamp” on the stationary given to Abby Kelly Foster by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. (1941.08.2.50)

What happened to erase Abby’s impact from the modern consciousness?
Abby viewed anti-slavery as the most important thing in her life, doing whatever she could to put an end to slavery no matter the personal cost. For example, she recalls a time when “I sold several of the most expensive articles of my wardrobe and forwarded the proceeds to the treasury, feeling that I could not withhold even a feather’s weight of help which might hasten the downfall of the terrible system, which, by crushing and cursing the slave, had deprived the whole country of ‘the liberty of speech and the press, the right of peaceable assemblage, and petition.’” She never received a monetary reward for her work, but Abby’s unflinching devotion to abolition led her to consistently place the cause above her own wellbeing as well as that of her family.

Abby often overworked herself to such a degree that her friends begged her to take a break. In a 1855 letter, Wendell Phillips urges her to “give up working & talking & take a year off,” He notes that “for your own sake we cannot see you kill yourself… You have no right my dear friend, to waste yourself thus.” In 1857, Samuel May, Junior wrote to Stephen to tell him that the entire Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society believes that he and Abby should “have rest, and the healing influences of a warmer climates, this winter,” suggesting exotic locations like Jamaica in addition to other West Indies islands. Some of her friends seemed to be resigned to the fact that there was no saving Abby from herself, merely wishing her “God speed in your self-denying exertions in behalf of human rights,” as C.C. Burleigh did in an 1840 letter. It is clear that Abby viewed abolition as more important than her own physical and emotional well-being, but there is also evidence that she chose the cause over her family on countless occasions.

Abby often left her young daughter, Alla, at home with her aunts and uncles so that she could travel for the cause. During one of her absences, Abby wrote to Alla, then five years old, admitting that “I had told you I intended to come home when your father did and then you and I would keep house together. Well, I intended, really to do so, but then, as your aunt Diana concluded to come and keep house for me I thought I would stay a little longer, and preach to those wicked men, and make them good, so that they would let the poor slave mothers go home to their children.” Abby then asked Alla: “Do you often think of the little slave girls who can never see their dear mothers again?”

In another letter from later in Alla’s childhood (around age ten), her father relays a message from Abby, saying that “your Mother wishes you to say to Ann that she may make up a good lot of grape jelly. She would write herself but all her time is occupied with anti-slavery letters.” What Abby may have been trying to deny earlier becomes clear in Stephen’s letter: Despite her love for her daughter, there was nothing in Abby’s heart stronger than her commitment to abolition, and that wholehearted devotion forced her to make difficult choices about the wellbeing of herself and her family.

In essence, Abby was much more devoted to abolition than she was to herself. She didn’t do what she did to gain notoriety, she did it because she held such a deep commitment to human rights, and she often did it to the detriment of her own health and well-being. Apart from her letters, the only primary source detailing her experiences is a draft she wrote in response to a request from Thomas Collier asking her to provide “a brief statement of some of the facts [of her] experience.” In the draft, Abby notes that “I never kept a diary, or any incidental notes of my life. I never kept any article from the newspapers, either commendatory, or condemnatory, of my course, and seldom kept a letter. And what may seem remarkable to you, as it does to me, the incidents of that time had almost utterly gone from my memory, with the names of the places and people where I went.”

Over a century later, Abby’s accomplishments and impact seem to have faded from renown just as those people and places began to fade from her memory near the end of her life. Because she held such a wholehearted and selfless devotion to ending slavery, she was unconcerned with notoriety, and the responsibility of keeping her legacy alive has fallen to new generations as they have penned biographies about Foster, written and performed plays about her life, fought for her induction in the National Women’s Hall of Fame and National Abolition Hall of Fame, and, as I have, transcribed her letters in the hopes of immortalizing her life’s work and bringing her accomplishments a little closer to center stage.

Scans of excerpts referenced above

Sallie Holley to Abby Kelley Foster: “All along my way I hear ‘Abby Kelley’ spoken of in terms of love and admiration. Your friends have a vivid remembrance of you.” (1941.08.2.46)
Mary Clark to Abby Kelley Foster: “This is a work of no small magnitude. We feel the need of an efficient agent, a female agent, who can not only talk in the parlor and the kitchen, (where many of our women are, especially at this busy season of the year,) but also in the public halls. We want some one to speak to the hearts of the people – some one who will command the attention of the minds and enlist the understandings and the hearts of those with whom they come in contact. And our eyes are turned at once to [you]” (2004.05.13)
Mary P. Chase to Stephen S. Foster: “I regret to hear that Abby’s health is so poor. She ought to leave off lecturing, & rest awhile. I know this would be hard for her but still in the end she can do more good, than by wearing herself out this prematurely. O how I wish there were thousands in the world like her, whose spirits could never rest so long as a single member of the human family is groaning in servitude & crushed & imbruted by cruel despotism.” (2004.05.2.5)
J.O. White to Abby Kelley Foster: “My dearest sister – I just this moment took up the “Standard & saw that ‘Abby Kelly was in Western N. York & her post office address was Auburn. It was joyous to me to know that she was so near – she who has been devout, [?] friend of the slave, she whose name is associated with all that is dear in the cause of humanity & is dear to all the friends of freedom in the land.” (2004.05.1.12)
Abby Kelley Foster to Alla W. Foster: “Have you seen what a pretty stamp there is on this letter? It was given me by Mrs. Stanton, and a lot more of very nice paper, so I can write you a lot of letters on nice paper – I hope you will keep you[r] letters very clean and laid up in your drawer.” (1941.08.2.50)
Abby Kelley Foster to Thomas Collier: “About this time, there was a pressing call for funds by our A.S. societies, and I sold several of the most expensive articles of my wardrobe and forwarded the proceeds to the treasury, feeling that I could not withhold even a feather’s weight of help which might hasten the downfall of the terrible system, which, by crushing and cursing the slave, had deprived the whole country of ‘the liberty of speech and the press, the right of peaceable assemblage, and petition.’” (1941.08.2.109)
Wendell Phillips to Abby Kelley Foster: “You must give up working & talking & take a year’s rest. For your own sake we cannot see you kill yourself. But I’ve asked you so often in vain on that ground, that I won’t try it again. My wife says […]” (1941.08.2.39)
Samuel May Junior to Stephen S. Foster: “Dear Foster, The individuals [?] the [American Anti-Slavery Society’s Executive Committee] here, feel very deeply the importance that both you and Abby should have rest, and the healing influences of a warmer climate, this winter.” (1941.08.2.52)
C.C. Burleigh to Abby Kelley Foster: “I have at last been able to snatch a moment to commence a letter, & though I have nothing particularly important to say, will devote it to you because my heart prompts such a use of it – because I long to know how you are getting on, & because I want to bid you God speed in your self-denying exertions in behalf of human rights. If you think […]” (2004.05.1.2)
Gertrude K. Burleigh to Abby Kelley Foster: “[…] for there we can see what is needed. I will nevertheless write to Charles telling him to do as he deems right, regardless of any private interest, this is all I have strength for at present, perhaps I may grow in grace, tho’ I confess that I despair of myself! Others may deem the sacrifice I make as nothing – especially when they see me cheerful & happy looking in [Charles’] absence – but nothing less than the pain I suffer in parting with my [friend] for week[s] & months together, [could] make me willing to endure all this & more if need be  – That is naught to the poor slave-wife’s agony! I thank God that even in this indirect manner I am permitted to suffer for their relief.” (1941.08.2.25)
Stephen S. Foster to Alla W. Foster: “Your Mother wishes you to say to Ann that she may make up a good lot of grape jelly. She would write herself but all her time is occupied with anti-slavery letters. The jelly may be put into small bowls.” (1941.08.2.70)
Abby Kelley Foster to Thomas Collier: “Some months since, you asked me for a brief statement of some of the facts in my experience, when I first essayed to speak in public, for the slave. At that time I was too feeble to write at all. But had I been able to write I had nothing to tell. I never kept a diary, or any incidental notes of my life. I never kept any article from the newspapers, either commendatory, or condemnatory, or my course, and seldom kept a letter. And what may seem remarkable to you, as it does to me, the incidents of that time had almost utterly gone from my memory, with the names of the places and people where I went. A few scenes of […]” (1941.08.2.109)

Bibliography

Burleigh, Charles C. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster. August 27 1840. Abby Kelley, Stephen and Alla Foster Letter Collection, 2004.05.1.2, Box 1, Folder 1. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

“Abby Kelley and Stephen S. Foster, with quotations from Manuscript in possession of the Worcester Historical Society.” Compiled by Historical Records Survey Works Progress Administration, 1938. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.1.1. Box 1, Folder 1. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Burleigh, Gertrude K. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster. December 28 1843. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.25, Box 1, Folder 4. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Chase, Mary P. and Albert M. Letter to Stephen S. Foster. February 2 1846. Abby Kelley, Stephen and Alla Foster Letter Collection. 2004.05.2.5, Box 1, Folder 4. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA. 

Clark, Mary. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster on behalf of the Concord Female Anti Slavery Society. October 2, 1840. Abby Kelley, Stephen and Alla Foster Letter Collection. 2004.05.1.3, Box 1, Folder 1.

Foster, Abby Kelley. Letter to Alla Wright Foster. April 17 1852. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.50, Box 1, Folder 5. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Foster, Abby Kelley. Letter to Thomas Collier. Circa 1885. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.109, Box 1, Folder 10. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Foster, Stephen S. Letter to Alla Wright Foster. October 5 1857. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.70, Box 1, Folder 6. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Holley, Sallie. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster. November 15 1852. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.46, Box 1, Folder 5. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Lowell, James Russell. “Letter From Boston.” The complete poetical works of James Russell Lowell, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1896. pp. 112. PDF. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/item/04013831/.

May, Samuel Junior. Letter to Stephen S. Foster. December 1 1857. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.52, Box 1, Folder 5. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Phillips, Wendell. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster. May 31 1855. Kelley-Foster Papers. 1941.08.2.39, Box 1, Folder 5. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

White, J.O. Letter to Abby Kelley Foster. July 4 1849[?]. Abby Kelley, Stephen and Alla Foster Letter Collection. 2004.05.1.12, Box 1, Folder 3. Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, MA.

Image Credits

1. Lithograph of Abby Kelley Foster by Alfred M. Hoffy, from a daguerreotype by Robert M. Douglass, Junior. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013651029/.

2. Portrait of Abby Kelley Foster as published in 1899 in Sallie Holley and John White Chadwick’s A Life For Liberty.

3. Portrait of Stephen Symonds Foster, courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society.

4. Photograph of Liberty Farm in 1973 (public domain).

All other images are scans of letters already cited & owned by Worcester Historical Museum