The Frederick Douglas Game

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My name is John Whittier and I was born on December 17th in 1807 in the great state of Massachusetts. I was born into a Quaker family and I am a poet and I advocate of abolition of slavery. I grew up on a farm with my parents, my brother, my sisters, maternal aunt, paternal uncle, and a constant flow of visitors and hired hands. I am color blind and I found out because I could not tell between a ripe and unripe strawberry which is a weird way to find out. I also suffered from bad health and physical frailty all my life. I did not receive a formal education, however I loved to read and study books on Quakerism.

I wrote my first poem called “The Exiles’ Departure” and it got sent to the Newburyport and the editor William Lloyd Garrison, it was published it on June 8th, 1826. The funny thing about that is I thought my poems were not ready for the public eye so someone sent the poem in without me knowing. I raised all the money possible to attend Haverhill Academy. I went to academy from 1827 t o1828 and completed high school education in only two terms. In the 1830’s I made the decision to become part of politics but lost the election and I had a breakdown, so I made the decision to come home. 

In 1833, I reconnected with William Garrison and Garrison wanted me to join the cause against slavery. I first published an antislavery pamphlet was called Justice and Expediency and with that pamphlet I dedicated my next 20 years of my life to the abolitionist cause. This controversial pamphlet destroyed my political career, as I demanded for emancipation, alienated both Northern businessmen and Southern Slaveholders, but it also sealed my commitment to a cause that I deemed morally correct and socially necessary. I was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and signed the Anti-Slavery Declaration of 1833. I badgered the anti-slavery congressional leaders into joining the abolitionist cause was invaluable. 

From 1835 to 1838 I traveled widely in the north, attending conventions, securing votes, speaking to the public, and lobbying politicians. I was an editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman, one of the leading anti-slavery papers in the North. One of my new offices was burned down by a pro-slavery mob. But through those things I continued to write poems, majority of my poems dealt with the issue of Slavery, I also attended the World of Anti-Slavery convention in London.

 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-greenleaf-whittier

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Greenleaf_Whittier

 

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