#although neither of those are much more shocking than being as vocal an Abolitionist as he was. for the time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hippo-pot · 5 months

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Do y'all know about Benjamin Lay? love this guy. I'm like 10 pages into his biography and already can't summarize him without doing him justice. i'll repeat the opening anecdote tho.

You're at a big Quaker meeting in New Jersey in 1738. This is a religion that has declared its dedication to peace, and has renounced weapons.

At these meetings, everyone can talk as the spirit moves them. It moves a 4-foot-tall man with a big white beard and kyphosis. His topic is the evils of slavery. A lot of people start looking uncomfortable, as you might upon being told you're committing the world's greatest sin.

After telling you all that God will "shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures," he throws off his greatcoat, revealing a military uniform, a sword, and a book. He lifts the book in the air and stabs it. Something that looks a lot like blood pours out. He makes sure it splatters some of the uncomfortable people. Women are swooning. He is bodily removed from the premises

#book is The Fearless Benjamin Lay by Marcus Rediker #he also lived in a cave and was a vegetarian (that was weird in the 1700s)!#his wife was a little person and abolitionist as well!#he wrote a book that Ben Franklin agreed to print. normally you'd put the printer's name on the book; Franklin decided to omit it #because he knew this antislavery book would be controversial #Lay was an environmentalist (in the 1700s???!) and opposed the death penalty (again; in the 1700s????!)#although neither of those are much more shocking than being as vocal an Abolitionist as he was. for the time #the 'blood' was pokeberry juice btw. the book was hollowed out and a bladder full of the juice was inside

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