Wendell Phillips
*Wendell Phillips was born on this date in 1811. He was a white-American businessman and abolitionist.
Phillips graduated from Harvard Law School in Boston, MA, but gave up a life of status and wealth to join the anti-slavery movement. He worked closely with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and contributed to the campaign by writing pamphlets and editorials in Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator.
He first spoke publicly on December 8, 1837, at a gathering in Boston protesting the death of Elijah Lovejoy, a newspaper owner and abolitionist who had been murdered in Alton, Illinois. His passionate speech and fiery spirit led many to say he should be the leading speaker for the abolitionist movement.
Both Phillips and Garrison denounced the Constitution because it upheld slavery. Phillips went further and recommended that the South be expelled from the Union until slavery was abolished. After the Emancipation Proclamation, Phillips worked to improve the lives of the newly freedmen and voter rights and temperance.
Wendell Phillips died on February 2, 1884, in Boston.
