author
Maria Weston Chapman
1806–1885
A bold American abolitionist, she helped keep antislavery work visible through organizing, writing, and editing during some of the movement’s most heated years. Her life connects reform, women’s public activism, and the moral urgency of the fight against slavery.
2 Audiobooks
"How Can I Help to Abolish Slavery?" or, Counsels to the Newly Converted
by Maria Weston Chapman
Right and wrong in Massachusetts
by Maria Weston Chapman
About the author
Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on July 25, 1806, Maria Weston Chapman became one of the most prominent white women in the American abolitionist movement. She spent part of her youth in England, was well educated, and worked as a teacher before marrying Henry Grafton Chapman in 1830.
Chapman was a leading force in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and later served on the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Britannica describes her as a close ally of William Lloyd Garrison, and she also used print to advance the cause: she edited The Non-Resistant from 1839 to 1842 and was associated with The Liberty Bell, an annual antislavery gift book connected with the National Anti-Slavery Bazaar.
She is remembered not just as an organizer, but as a persuasive writer and public voice in a movement that depended on both moral argument and tireless effort. Chapman died in Weymouth on July 12, 1885, leaving behind a record of reform work that shows how central women were to the struggle against slavery.