Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1833 by Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott, this society, headquartered here, originally consisted of sixty women who sought to end slavery. After the Civil War, the society supported the cause of the freed slaves.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1833, Quaker reformer Lucretia Mott helped organize this society of some sixty women dedicated to ending slavery, headquartered on this spot. Barred from full participation in male-led abolition groups, these women built their own influential organization, raising funds and rallying support for emancipation. After the Civil War, they turned their energies to aiding the newly freed, extending their reform work into a new era.
Why it matters
One of the earliest interracial women's antislavery groups, it fused the abolition and early women's rights movements that Mott would help lead for decades.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1833, the movement to abolish slavery was entering a new, more radical and organized phase. Reformers were founding societies, printing newspapers, and demanding not gradual change but an end to slavery. Yet the movement carried its own contradiction: the women who did much of its work were often barred from full membership in the male-led organizations they supported.
Philadelphia was a natural center for antislavery activism, with deep Quaker roots and a tradition of women taking active moral and public roles within their faith communities. For women who felt called to the cause, the question was not whether to act, but how — and where they would be allowed to.
Out of that constraint came a distinctly female answer. If women could not share leadership in the existing societies, they would organize societies of their own, on this spot and in this moment.
People & events
The society organized here in 1833 grew from the vision of Lucretia Mott, a Quaker abolitionist whose plain manner masked a formidable will. She helped gather some sixty women into an organization devoted to ending slavery — a group that would meet, raise funds, circulate petitions, and press the cause with persistence and skill.
Mott brought to the work a conviction, rooted in her faith, that all people were equal in the sight of God, and that this equality demanded action in the world. Under her influence the society did the essential, tireless labor of a reform movement: organizing, financing, and sustaining the campaign against slavery over many years.
When the Civil War finally brought slavery's end, the women did not simply disband. They turned their attention to the newly freed, supporting the enormous task of helping people move from bondage into freedom. It was a natural continuation of a mission that had always been about more than a single legal change.
Its place in the American story
This society stands among the earliest organized efforts by women to shape the national struggle over slavery — and it did so at a time when women's participation in public political life was itself controversial. In building their own institution, these women asserted that they had both the right and the duty to act.
That assertion carried consequences beyond abolition. Many women who found their voices in the antislavery movement went on to demand rights for themselves, and Lucretia Mott would become a leading figure in the early struggle for women's rights. The connection was direct: the skills, arguments, and confidence forged in the fight against slavery flowed into a broader fight for equality.
The society's later turn toward aiding the freed people also reflects a larger truth of the era — that emancipation was a beginning, not an ending, and that the work of building real freedom would occupy reformers long after the war was won.
If you visit
Standing here, you're at the origin point of an organization that began with about sixty determined women and a cause much of the country resisted. The marker invites you to think about the double barrier they faced — against slavery, and against the idea that women should speak on it at all.
Let this be a stop that connects two great American movements. The fight to end slavery and the fight for women's rights were braided together in people like Lucretia Mott, and this site is one of the places where that braid was tied.
As you continue through historic Philadelphia, carry the reminder that some of the era's most consequential organizing was done by people who had to build their own table because they were denied a seat at everyone else's.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- National Constitution Centernearby · 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center0.1 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Museum of Illusions Philadelphia0.2 mi away · 401 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- African American Museum in Philadelphia0.2 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History0.2 mi away · 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA
- Betsy Ross House0.2 mi away · 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- U.S. Mint at Philadelphia Tournearby
- Benjamin Franklin Gravenearby
- President's House0.2 mi away
- Liberty Bell0.3 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Second Bank of the United States0.3 mi away · 420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Elfreth's Alley0.3 mi away
Food & drink
- Independence Mall Cafenearby · 50 North Independence Mall East, Philadelphia
- Bubble Tea Room0.2 mi away · 319 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- 3J's Cafe0.2 mi away · 317 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- La Colombe Coffee Roasters0.2 mi away
- Fork0.2 mi away · 306 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- PrimoHoagies0.2 mi away · 304 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Wyndham Philadelphia Historic Districtnearby · 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel0.3 mi away · 401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- The Philadelphia House0.3 mi away · 17 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Best Western Plus Independence Park Hotel0.3 mi away · 237 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels0.3 mi away · 33 Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels Philadelphia0.3 mi away · 32 South Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
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Related people
- · Lucretia Mott
Themes & tags
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