Elizabeth Buffum Chace and Lillie Chace Wyman: A Century of Abolitionist, Suffragist and Workers' Rights Activism

by Elizabeth C. Stevens

At her death she was hailed as "the conscience of Rhode Island": Elizabeth Buffum Chace’s life (1806–1899) of public activism spanned sixty years. Having fought to abolish slavery in the years before the Civil War, Chace spearheaded the drive for women’s suffrage in Rhode Island in the last decades of the 19th century. She was an associate of radical activists William Lloyd Garrison and Lucy Stone and she advocated for the rights of women and children toiling in her husband’s factories. Her daughter—one of ten children—Lillie Chace Wyman (1847–1929), was an activist-writer and published short stories on social issues in Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals. An outspoken advocate of racial equality, Wyman kept the legacy of the radical antislavery movement of her mother’s generation alive into the twentieth century. Since neither Chace nor Wyman left behind a collection of personal papers, this mother-daughter biography is the product of Stevens’ extensive research into public and private archives to locate documents that illuminate the lives of these two remarkable women. By looking at 19th century American women’s history through the lens of this activist pair, Stevens reveals some of the connections between the public and private lives of activists and examines a relationship that was at once nurturing, confining, stifling and enriching.

332 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume contains a wealth of information on two women who spent their lives fighting for social justice and equal rights. Elizabeth Buffum Chace was born into a Quaker family and came to the abolition movement naturally, as an extension of Quaker philosophy. She became a devoted disciple of William Lloyd Garrison and the radical faction of abolitionists who demanded immediate emancipation of the slaves and nothing less. Her newfound faith in abolitionism caused her to break with the Society of Friends. Her new religion became abolition and it dictated the way she ran her household and raised her children. Her children became budding abolitionists as well. Following the Civil War, Elizabeth took up the "woman suffrage" cause and championed women's right while Lillie struggled to come of age in a new world. Elizabeth continued to fight to woman suffrage and equality for the rest of her life. Lillie went on to right about the plight of factory workers and wrote about social equality, literary matters and the historical figures who shaped her childhood.

This book is packed with information primarily from primary sources. The author examines the Chace women in context of the social movement of their lifetimes. The book goes into great detail about the Garrisonian abolition movement and those who were a part of it. It is also a history of the women's rights movement of the nineteenth century, as anti-slavery and women's rights were combined. The parts about Elizabeth were excellent, drawing on her letters and recollections. Lillie's story is not as easy to uncover and Lillie seems to have struggled in her mother's shadow, wanting to champion social justice but not being able to be as strong or as brave as her mother had been.

The book suffers a little from containing too much information. It's very dense and I couldn't read every word. This book is not for the casual reader. It is an academic book and not a popular history.

This is an excellent academic book for those studying Nineteenth Century American women and reform. I learned a lot, despite studying a lot about the subject. It's also a great history of New England and the spirit of activism that sprang from the Protestant thinking tradition.