Changemaker #21: Wendell Phillips

Today's changemaker is Wendell Phillips. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1811, he was an attorney and abolitionist who served as the President of the American Antislavery Society from 1865 to 1870. Phillips passed away on this day in 1884. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a tireless abolitionist, inspirational orator and a friend of Frederick Douglass. 

Phillips was recruited to the anti-slavery cause by William Lloyd Garrison, which inspired him to leave the practice of law and dedicate his life to social justice. Phillips was also an outspoken and constant advocate for women’s rights and universal suffrage. He took great interest in slave narratives and the life account of Frederick Douglass and valued Douglass' Narrative for its accuracy and potential in revealing the reality of slavery.

He believed that the horrendous sides of slavery had to be recounted and that freedom had to be accompanied by equal social rights. Douglass used Phillips' letter as a second introduction to his Narrative. Phillips was also an early advocate of equal rights for Native Americans, a member of the National Woman’s Rights Central Committee and a supporter of property rights for women.

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