The lifelong Sacrifice of Abby Kelley FOster

An opinion piece in the Millbury Sutton Chronicle this week about the wonderful work of Abby Kelley Foster.

Opinion: The lifelong sacrifice of Abby Kelley Foster

Special to the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle By Kristen Livoti, executive director, Asa Waters Mansion

Can you imagine living in a country where you could not vote? Where your opinion was not valued nor allowed to be heard? This was the United States not too long ago. With the election approaching, I’m sure many of you are becoming weary, but as you prepare to vote, I would like to think about a Millbury resident who helped bring about this change.

Abby Kelley (later Abby Kelley Foster) grew up on a farm in the Tatnuck area of Worcester. Raised in the Quaker faith, Abby believed that all individuals should be equal and worked tirelessly for both the anti-slavery movement and the suffragist movement. At a time when women were not encouraged to express their opinions, Abby stood out time and time, again, to speak in support of her beliefs. Although she disliked the limelight, Abby put herself forward by canvassing throughout New England to raise supporters for the anti-slavery movement even facing both verbal and physical threats. She was young and attractive and traveled without a chaperone and that drew more disapproval from both men and women. She was one of the first women to speak at the New England Antislavery Society and also voted onto a committee. This was unheard of at the time and often men would leave a meeting rather than listen to her voice.

Throughout this time, Abby would return home to Millbury which she referred to as “home, sweet home.” She founded the Millbury Antislavery Society, brought speakers to Millbury to lecture on anti-slavery, temperance and suffrage and worked tirelessly to promote the rights of oppressed. She spent her life working behind the scenes and although others became famously known for their work, Abby shunned publicity, did not keep a diary nor sit for many photographs. At her service, Samuel May stated, “Few Americans can be named — statesmen, scholars, orators, no matter how gifted — who did so much for the abolition of American slavery as did the woman whose worn-out frame lies before us…. Mrs. Foster stood in the thick of the fight for the slaves, and at the same time, hewed out the path over which women are now walking toward their equal political rights.

Lucy Stone added, “The world of women owe her a debt which they can never pay. The movement for the equal rights of women began directly and emphatically with her.”

So, as you enter the voting booth, give a thought to Abby Kelly Foster who spent her life fighting for the rights of all citizens of the United States.

https://www.millburysutton.com/story/opinion/2020/10/26/opinion-lifelong-sacrifice-of-abby-kelley-foster/42883733/