Benjamin Lay

[Jamie in Chile]

I just found out about Benjamin Lay (1682-1759). Born in Britain and settled in USA when it was a British colony. What a hero. He was an activist against slavery at the time when that wasn't even a movement, but his activism within the quakers likely helped start the movement. He was also a vegetarian, a feminist and would not wear animal clothes. In the year 1700. What a legend.

Benjamin Lay - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Benjamin Lay: The Quaker dwarf who fought slavery

The remarkable life of Benjamin Lay: Quaker, abolitionist, feminist and vegetarian - and 4ft tall.

www.bbc.com

 

[Sax]

On another occasion, he kidnapped the child of slaveholders temporarily, to show them how Africans felt when their relatives were sold overseas.

Damnnn. Talk about radical activism.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Indeed. I don´t think we can justify that action! - and it may even have been counter productive -, although how much we should condemn him for this would depend on the details of how it was done.

 

[Brian W]

I don't think the slaveholders would care anyway, so it's doubtful it was a useful action but I understand why it was done. I might have been tempted to do the same except for the distress of the children.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Maybe he could have managed to convince the parents the child had been kidnapped without actually doing it.

 

[bEt]

Thank you for sharing this.

So gutsy! I heard a long time ago that quakers became known for their abolitionist stance, but it wasn't til much later that I learned they had to be dragged to it kicking and screaming. Lots of dissent and disagreement within the quaker community for a long time about it. Lots of well-off quakers made money not just by owning slaves but by quietly 'investing' in the slave trade. Hard to give up something that brings you cash. Which of course you will use for 'good' and for "God".

I am purely guessing here, but I wonder if it was possible that the child he 'kidnaped' could have been the child of someone he knew well enough to know that perhaps they could be open to confronting how harmful their slave-holding and slave-trading practices were. Like maybe they were someone he had tried to talk to and they kept trying to justify their actions.

It seems like he spent a lot of his energy trying to convince his own quaker community, so maybe it was someone he knew?