Frederick Douglass to Joseph Barker, September 22, 1846
To the Lynn Antislavery Sewing CircleLynn Anti-Slavery Sewing Circle
Women involved in the antislavery movement formed sewing circles as a means of making practical use of their time while holding antislavery meetings, where they would knit or sew items that were then sold to raise funds at antislavery fairs. Although no records for the Lynn Anti-Slavery Sewing Circle have been located, Rosetta Douglass remembered her mother as attending the weekly Lynn Ladies’ Anti–Slavery Society meetings, where the members made items for sale at the annual Boston Anti–Slavery Fair. Thus, the sewing circle and the society might have been the same entity. The Lynn Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society’s membership included, in addition to Anna Douglass, Hannah and Ruth O. Buffum, and Abby Kelley Foster. Lib., 3 December 1847; Benjamin F. Roberts, The Lynn Directory and Register for 1841 (Lynn, Mass., 1841), 13–14; Quarles, “Sources of Abolitionist Income,” 71–72; Sprague, My Mother as I Recall Her, 12–13.
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Your words of kindly greeting—intended to reach me by the first of July did not reache me till the first of August—I say intended for the 1st July because it bears date 16 June.
Now what response can I make to your friendly letter.
Glasgow
22d Sept
Joseph BarkerBarker, Joseph
Joseph Barker (1806–76), a British clergyman and abolitionist, was the editor of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Christian, and he published an edition of Douglass’s Narrative during the latter’s first trip to Britain in 1846. A controversial figure, Barker was expelled from the Methodist New Connection in 1841, and he was arrested for advocating Chartism in 1848. From 1851 to 1860, he resided in the United States, where he actively participated in the abolition movement. Douglass Papers, ser. 2, 1:88–89; Joseph Barker, The Life of Joseph Barker, ed. John Thomas Barker (London, 1880); Betty Fladeland, “ ‘Our Cause Being One and the Same’: Abolitionists and Chartism,” in Slavery and British Society, 1776–1846, ed. James Walvin (Baton Rouge, La., 1982), 95; DNB, 1:1124–26.
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My Dear Sir—I have just entered into an agreement with Mr. Swan Engraver to print 5,000 portraits for the forthcoming Edition of my Narrative—two thousand copies of which will be Sent you in the Course of a fornight.
Very Sincerely
Frederick Douglass
Joseph Barker Esq
Wastley near
Leeds.