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Cover of The Agitators

The Agitators

by Dorothy Wickenden

Book Details

Publisher:Simon and Schuster
Published:2022-02-22
Pages:416
Format:BOOK
Language:en
ISBN:9781476760742

Reading Info

About This Book

Harriet Tubman, strategically brilliant and uncannily prescient, rescued some seventy enslaved people from Maryland's Eastern Shore and shepherded them north along the underground railroad. In Auburn, New York, she entrusted passengers to Martha Coffin Wright, a Quaker abolitionist and leader of the women's rights movement, and Frances A. Seward, whose husband served as New York's governor and senator, and then as secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln. The Agitators opens in the 1820s, when T

Our Review

This compelling historical narrative chronicles the remarkable friendship and political alliance between three women who shaped 19th century America: Harriet Tubman, the fearless Underground Railroad conductor; Martha Coffin Wright, a prominent Quaker abolitionist and women's rights organizer; and Frances A. Seward, the politically connected wife of Lincoln's Secretary of State. Beginning in the 1820s, the book traces how these women from vastly different backgrounds formed an unlikely partnership that challenged both slavery and gender inequality through decades of social upheaval.

What makes this account particularly powerful is its focus on the personal relationships and strategic coordination between these activists, revealing how their private correspondence and public actions influenced national politics. Readers interested in untold stories of women's contributions to abolition and early feminism will find this deeply researched account both enlightening and inspiring, offering a fresh perspective on how friendship and shared purpose can drive historical change.

Themes

Biography & Autobiography

Subjects

Biography & Autobiography