Angelina Emily Grimké Weld (February 20, 1805 – October 26, 1879) was a pioneering American abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, and eloquent orator whose bold voice helped shape the moral conscience of 19th-century America. Born into a wealthy, slaveholding family in Charleston, South Carolina, Grimké made the radical decision to reject her privileged upbringing and dedicate her life to fighting slavery and inequality.
A courageous writer and speaker, she became the first Southern white woman to publicly denounce slavery, joining the American Anti-Slavery Society and later delivering powerful lectures across the North. Her 1836 Appeal to the Christian Women of the South remains a landmark abolitionist text, calling on women to take a stand against injustice.
After marrying fellow abolitionist Theodore Weld, Grimké expanded her advocacy to include women’s rights, arguing that gender equality was inseparable from racial justice. Her collaboration with her sister Sarah Grimké also helped lay the intellectual groundwork for the feminist movement in the United States.
Angelina Emily Grimké Weld’s fearless commitment to human rights, her trailblazing public activism, and her unwavering moral clarity made her a transformative figure in American history—an enduring symbol of conscience, courage, and change.
