ANGELA WELD GRIMKE
Headshot of Angela Weld Grimke, by Thomas Klein in 1923.
“We Abolition Women are turning the world upside down.”
― Angelina Weld Grimke
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A published poet at 13 and writing the first African American casted play, Rachel by Angelina W. Grimké is a historically important work, with themes that still apply in the year 2020. Grimke was a school teacher in DC when she wrote this play in 1916, with the original title of 'Blessed are the Barren'. This was the first play by a Black woman to be publicly performed in the United States. It was written as a response to DW Griffith's film 'Birth of a Nation', to protest racial violence and lynching. Not only did she challenge the patriarchy of racial injustice, she was also a big advocate for equal rights for lesbians and gays. She shares this with the Clauflin sisters who also advocated for free love. Grimke was an influential author challenged the oppressing patriarchy in aspects of race and gender.
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Rachel and its author
We were not asleep your father and I. They broke down the front door and made their way to our bedroom. Your father kissed me and took up his revolver. It was always loaded. They broke down the door. I tried to shut my eyes I could not. Four masked men fell they did not move any more after a little. Your father was finally over- powered and dragged out. In the hall my little seven-teen-year-old George tried to rescue him. Your father begged him not to interfere. He paid no attention. It ended in their dragging them both out. My little George was a man! He never made an outcry. His last words to me were: "Ma, I am glad to go with Father." I could only nod to him. While they were dragging them down the steps, I crept into the room where you were. You were both asleep. Rachel, I remember, was smiling. I knelt down by you and covered my ears with my hands and waited. I could not pray I couldn't for a long time afterwards. It was very still when I finally uncovered my ears. The only sounds were the faint rustle of leaves and the "tap-tapping of the twig of a tree" against the window. I hear it still sometimes in my dreams. It was the tree where they were. While I had knelt there waiting, I had made up my mind what to do. I dressed myself and then I woke you both up and dressed you. We set forth. It was a black, still night. Alternately dragging you along and carrying you I walked five miles to the house of some friends. They took us in, and we remained there until I had seen my dead laid comfortably at rest. They lent me money to come North I couldn't bring you up in the South. Always remember this: There never lived anywhere or at any time any two whiter or more beautiful souls. God gave me one for a husband and one for a son and I am proud. You must be proud too.
The unfortunate luck for the groundbreaking author of Rachel sharing a name with another popular abolitionist is a key factor in how much she is overlooked. When you type in Grimke's name and search it, you get results for the other Grimke and her sister. While Grimke made significant impacts in both writing and theater while also being only the second African American to graduate from Harvard, she is still overlooked for the other woman who shares her name.