Il piantagrane: storia di Benjamin Lay

Marcus Rediker has written an important correction to the history of abolitionism with his biography The Fearless Benjamin Lay. Lay was born in 1682, a commoner who worked as a shepherd, a glove-maker, a sailor, and a merchant and lived in Essex, Barbados, and Pennsylvania. He was a Quaker, perhaps

To honor July 4th I am reviewing a biography of a true American original whose life expands our knowledge of the history of American abolitionism, Quakerism and alternative lifestyles. Benjamin Lay was a very independent man who should be celebrated while we celebrate American independence. "Let you Leggi tutto

Benjamin Lay: A Quaker Dwarf who became the first Revolutionary Abolitionist. He was born in Essex England in 1682 and traveled to Barbados and Philadelphia . He used metaphors of sheep and lambs to admonish Quakers and others to free their slaves. He often disrupted church meetings to make his point Leggi tutto

I became aware of The Fearless Benjamin Lay when I caught wind of an event with the author in my city. The event highlighted Benjamin as a Quaker, Dwarf, and abolitionist, so my interest was already piqued. When I sought out a description of the book and found that Lay was also an animal liberation

This was a case of the author including every scrap of information he found on the person. The overview at the beginning turned out to be the most interesting part, in my opinion. I was expecting a book about what Benjamin Lay did in the fight against slavery, but most of that information was adequa Leggi tutto

This was one of the most fascinating historical figures I've ever learned about and it makes me mad that the reason he isn't more well known is that the racist Quakers he pissed off tried to bury his impact. He was such a colourful and passionate person and he should be more well known.