Samuel May

Born in 1810 and remembered today as Samuel J. May, he was a Unitarian minister, writer, and one of the best-known antislavery reformers in New England. He spent much of his life speaking and writing for causes he believed were inseparable from human dignity, including the abolition of slavery, women's rights, and better public education.

His books and memoirs grew directly from that public life. Rather than writing in a distant or academic tone, he tended to sound practical, earnest, and morally clear, shaped by years of preaching, organizing, and arguing for reform in the face of strong opposition.

He died in 1899, leaving behind a body of work closely connected to the reform movements of his era. For listeners interested in firsthand voices from 19th-century America, his writing offers both personal conviction and a vivid sense of the debates that shaped the period.