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Frederick Douglass to Amy Post, August 5, 1857

Rochester August 5th 1857

Dear Mrs. PostPost, Amy Kirby

The Posts, Isaac (1798-1872) and Amy Kirby (1802-89), were prominent abolitionists who spent their most active years in Rochester, New York. Isaac was born on Long Island but moved to Scipio, New York, in 1823 with his first wife Hannah Kirby. After Hannah's death in 1827, he married her younger sister, Amy, a native of Jericho, New York. In 1836 the Posts moved to Rochester, where they became involved with Garrisonian abolitionism. The Posts often hid fugitive slaves, and Amy acted as vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1850s and 1860s. In addition to abolitionism, Amy was active in the women's movement, including the seminal 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, a meeting that she helped to organize. In 1848 the Posts also numbered among the first converts to spiritualism in Rochester, and Isaac soon attracted fame as a writing medium. Douglass first met the couple in 1842 when he stayed at their home during a lecture tour, and their friendship influenced his choice of Rochester as the base for his newspaper, the North Star. Hewitt, Women's Activism and Social Change, 61, 93, 107, 118, 131-34, 142-43, 169; Blake McKelvey, "Civic Medal Awarded Posthumously," RH, 22:10-11 (April 1960); DAB, 15:117.
,

You will do me a kindness by Sending me your copy of the Standard for Last week. My Copy has been mislaid. There is an article in it which I wish to publish. Provided you can allow me to have the paper for that purpose.

Very Respectfully

Frederick Douglass

Creator

Post, Amy

Date

August 5, 1857

Description

Frederick Douglass to Amy Post. ALS: Amy Post Papers, NRU. Requests she send last week's copy of the American Anti-Slavery Standard.

Publisher

This document was calendared in the published volume and has not been published in full before.

Collection

University of Rochester: Amy Post Papers

Type

Letters

Publication Status

Unpublished