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The Agitators
The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights | Dorothy Wickenden
2 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 3 to read
From the intimate perspective of three friends and neighbors in mid-nineteenth century Auburn, New Yorkthe agitators of the titleacclaimed author Dorothy Wickenden tells the fascinating and crucially American stories of abolition, the underground railroad, the early womens rights movement, and the Civil War. Harriet Tubmanno-nonsense, funny, uncannily prescient, and strategically brilliantwas one of the most important conductors on the underground railroad and hid the enslaved men, women and children she rescued in the basement kitchens of Martha Wright, Quaker mother of seven, and Frances Seward, wife of Governor, then Senator, then Secretary of State William H. Seward. Harriet worked for the Union Army in South Carolina as a nurse and spy, and took part in a river raid in which 750 enslaved people were freed from rice plantations. Martha, a dangerous woman in the eyes of her neighbors and a harsh critic of Lincolns policy on slavery, organized womens rights and abolitionist conventions with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Frances gave freedom seekers money and referrals and aided in their education. The most conventional of the three friends, she hid her radicalism in public; behind the scenes, she argued strenuously with her husband about the urgency of immediate abolition. Many of the most prominent figures in the history booksLincoln, Seward, Daniel Webster, Frederick Douglass, Charles Sumner, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrisonare seen through the discerning eyes of the protagonists. So are the most explosive political debates: about womens roles and rights during the abolition crusade, emancipation, and the arming of Black troops; and about the true meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Beginning two decades before the Civil War, when Harriet Tubman was still enslaved and Martha and Frances were young women bound by law and tradition, The Agitators ends two decades after the war, in a radically changed United States. Wickenden brings this extraordinary period of our history to life through the richly detailed letters her characters wrote several times a week. Like Doris Kearns Goodwins Team of Rivals and David McCulloughs John Adams, Wickendens The Agitators is revelatory, riveting, and profoundly relevant to our own time.
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NotCool
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Usually in history class this entire book is covered in the phrase “woman, who had worked for abolition now thought about the right to vote” which doesn‘t make sense. This book makes so much more sense. There were badass, take no prisoner woman working hard for both abolition and the rights of all women, the entire time: putting their lives on the line, forming partnerships, doing the work. Weird how their stories are just lost🙄

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PNWBookseller85
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Really solid history/biography featuring Harriet Tubman, Martha Wright and Frances Seward. A little unsettling at times to learn how close our current political climate is to what it was just before the Civil War. These 3 women juxtaposed against some of the more well known (Susan B Anthony or Elizabeth Stanton) historical figures gave me hope though - they had strong moral compasses for their time. Great read!