The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights (Bestselling Women's History)

A well-researched, readable account of three women who were extraordinary in their own right, but not necessarily cited by historians as the friend they were. Their connections to "place" (in this case, Auburn, NY) also give the telling a relatable focus and a feeling of the times. It's one thing to learn of these pioneers' views, but another to see how they were perceived by their neighbors. The chapters set in the Civil War are especially moving - and revealing. Highly recommended.

Who were the agitators? They were Harriet Tubman, Martha Wright, and Frances Seward. Harriet Tubman was the most famous of the three, whose life story is well-known (indeed, her face will replace that of Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill some time in 2022). The three women comprised a unique circle of friends, whose individual efforts helped usher in what Lincoln promised in his Gettysburg Address, "A New Birth of Freedom", not just for millions of enslaved African Americans, but for women too--the right to vote, own property, and hold elective office. Much of the scholarship the author relied upon to write her book is drawn from the many letters of Martha Wright and Frances Seward, as well as newspaper accounts of Harriet Tubman's activity before, during, and after the Civil War. At 307 pages, the book reads more like a well-plotted novel than a dry recounting of historical people and events.Harriet Tubman was born into slavery on a Maryland plantation. In 1849, when she was in her early 20s, she escaped to Philadelphia, (a.k.a. "The City of Brotherly Love" that thanks to the efforts of the Quakers, had long welcomed slaves fleeing from the oppression of Southern plantations). Having found freedom, she returned to her home state as a conductor on the Underground Railroad that carried slaves to Canada--out of the long reach of slave holders seeking their return. During the Civil War she worked as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union Army.One of the stops on the Underground Railroad, was a rural township in the finger lakes region of upstate New York, named Auburn. At the time the finger lakes region was the nation's hotbed of radical ideas, including abolition, temperance, and women's rights. It was in Auburn that Ms Tubman and a number of freedom seekers were given temporary haven in the homes of Martha Wright and Frances Seward. Both women were staunch abolitionists and activists in the temperance and women's rights movement.Giving a meal and a bed to a runaway slave was an act of courage in an era when the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 were very much in force, and imposed harsh penalties on those who helped escapees. Strongly religious, the three women believed that God was on the side of the abolitionists, and while taking sensible precautions, did not fear being caught. Ms Wright in particular took personal satisfaction in what she was doing. On the night that the first fugitive arrived in her kitchen, she felt "a sense of satisfaction unlike any she'd ever experienced," writes the author, quoting from one of Wright's letters. A mother of seven, Martha Wright was a friend and compatriot of feminist leaders Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was also one of the participants of the landmark Seneca Falls Convention.The third agitator was, in the author's words, a "quieter rebel." Frances Seward got her first taste of slavery on a visit to Virginia in 1835, when she was 30. Like Abraham Lincoln before her, she was sickened by what she saw--in her case, 10 weeping black boys, ages 6 to 12, naked, roped together and overseen by a white man with a whip. The children were on their way to the auction block, where they would be sold to work in the cotton fields of the Deep South.As the wife of Henry Seward, governor of New York, then Senator, and Lincoln's secretary of state, she found herself in the difficult position of trying to follow her conscious without damaging her husband's political career. In keeping with her husband's wishes, she kept a low profile about her antislavery work. While her husband enjoyed the social side of politics, she did not, and wasn't sad when a virtual unknown, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, was chosen over her husband as the Republican Party's presidential nominee. Behind the scenes, however, she was a powerful and persistent advisor to her husband, pushing him to press Lincoln to emancipate the slaves.The author does a very good job of describing life in politically-active Auburn of the 1840s, and in Washington D. C. prior to and during the Civil War. Best of all she breaths life into a number of historically significant characters--uncompromising abolitionist John Brown, who led the ill-fated slave-uprising at Harper's Ferry; Frederick Douglass, the self-taught former slave who was a neighbor and friend of the Wrights and Sewards; Harriet Beecher Stow, who wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; and Lincoln, whom quoting one of Ms. Seward's letters, describes the 16th president as "amusing and friendly, with a manner like an unassuming farmer's--not awkward & ungainly but equally removed from polish or manner." She also quotes abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens, who said, "The greatest measure of the nineteenth century (the Thirteenth Amendment) was passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America."Tubman's wartime service in South Carolina is chronicled in a dramatic chapter about a military raid on plantations along the Combahee River in which she led 750 slaves to safety. As a sign of things to come in the postwar years, Ms. Tubman, on her way from the Fifteenth Street Church in Washington, was ordered off a segregated streetcar by a conductor.Also chronicled is the Battle of Gettysburg, where Frances's son Willy, fought gallantly and was wounded. Another moving scene is an account of the attempt made on Henry Seward's life by an associate of John Wilkes Booth on the night of Lincoln's assassination. Seward's daughter, Fanny, who witnessed the knife attack, wrote in her journal afterwards: "Blood, blood, my thoughts seemed drenched in it--I seemed to breathe its sickening odor."While violence runs through much of the narrative, so does the religious conviction of the three friends--Martha, Frances, Harriet--respectively, a Quaker, an Episcopalian, and a Methodist. Harriet Tubman went so far as to say that God wouldn't let Lincoln win the war until he had freed the slaves.The star of the book is unquestionably Harriet Tubman, whom the author paints as highly intelligent, determined and dignified--"a small unstoppable woman . . . unafraid of the of the slave power of the South and the lawmakers of in Washington." She lived a good, long life in service to her fellow man. After the war, she settled in Auburn, in a house the Sewards had given her, and in 1869, married Nelson Davis. In the book's closing pages is a wonderful photograph of her, taken in 1911, two years before her death at age 90. At Fort Hill Cemetery, due west and down several hills from the Seward and Wright family plots, Harriet's grave can be found under a towering Norwegian spruce. A tribute, engraved on the back of her tombstone reads:"To the Memory of HARRIET TUBMAN DAVIS Heroine of the Underground Railroad. Nurse and Scout in the Civil War. Born about 1820 in Maryland. Died March 10, 1913 at Auburn, N.Y. "Servant of God. Well Done."

This book proves why we need studies in Women's and African-American history. First, it gives us perspective. Second it fills in the blanks.This was a challenging book because it covered so many people (women) that I was either unfamiliar with or only slightly familiar. It was also about relationships. Everyone was someones mother, wife, sister, daughter, it was difficult to keep everyone straight.I enjoyed the book. Any difficulty with it was due to my lack of experiance with the people. The strongest part was its giving us a new perspective on old material. The section on the events concerning the Seward family during the Lincoln Assasination was exceptional.I don't think the book quite reached its goal of making the connection of these three women being the Agitators of Auburn. They were definately agitators, but I was expecting more of a coordination of agitation.

Great historical book showing the interplay among three great women of their time. Frances Seward, Martha Wright and Harriet Tubman. In addition to allowing the reader to view each of the women's activism through their correspondence, the reader also gains an appreciation of the difficulties these women faced during chaotic times. I found it especially interesting to view the happenings prior to the Civil War, and during the war, and after. This was especially meaningful in the light of our current times

I loved this book for the depth & important non-fiction information it beautifully portrayed about 3 dynamic & courageous women who fought for women’s rights and abolition. A must for every proud American to understand how women started to be recognized that we are all equal!

As an avid reader of non-fiction and historical fiction, I found this book to be very readable, entertaining and filled with information on both the women's suffrage movement and the anti-slavery movement and how they were intertwined. In particular I came away with a renewed awe of Harriet Tubman. What an amazing woman she was! I also gained an appreciation of the roles Martha Wright and Frances Seward played in these turbulent times. I recommend this to any history buffs, especially those interested in both of the aforementioned movements in American history.