31/07/2026
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an abolitionist, poet, and writer whose life was shaped deeply by his Quaker faith.
Raised on a struggling farm in Massachusetts, Whittier was only able to attend school during the winter when his labor wasn’t needed. Whittier’s family traveled nine miles each way to attend meeting for worship on Sundays.
His fortunes changed at the age of 19 when his sister submitted his poetry to the Newburyport Free Press for publication. The editor there was abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, who took Whittier under his wing.
Working alongside Garrison, Whittier went on to become one of the nation’s leading abolitionist voices. In 1833 he published his antislavery pamphlet, “Justice and Expediency,” which catapulted him to prominence. He was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society that same year, and became a Massachusetts legislator two years later.
His activism placed him in danger more than once, including a narrow escape from a mob that set fire to an abolitionist hall where he was attending a meeting. He was able to get out unscathed when he hastily assembled a disguise and blended in with the pro-slavery crowd by shouting, “Hang Whittier!”
The Civil War was a complicated turning point for Whittier. His Quaker pacifism led him to oppose it, but he ultimately thought that it was the only way to end slavery. President Lincoln said that Whittier’s ‘Luther’s Hymn’ had influenced him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and that it was the kind of song he wanted all the soldiers to hear:
O North and South,
Its victims both,
Can you not cry,
‘Let Slavery die!’
And union find in freedom?
After the war, Whittier returned to primarily writing poems about the natural world, Quakerism, rural life, and New England. By the end of his life he was one of the most widely-read poets of his time and a household name in the US and England. At his death, thousands came to his wake and packed into his Amesbury backyard for his funeral.
