State History

This article originally appeared on the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum website.

Samuel Joseph May was born on September 12, 1797 into a well-connected Boston family. He graduated from Harvard University (1817) and Harvard Divinity School (1820) and became the only Unitarian minister in Connecticut (1822). He married Lucretia Flagge Coffin in 1825. William Lloyd Garrison converted him to immediate abolitionism in 1830; they became lifelong friends. Rev. May assisted Garrison in founding the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) and was a founding member the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  He championed Prudence Crandall’s quest to educate Black schoolgirls (1832-3), published the abolitionist newspaper The Unionist (1833), and helped with the organization of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (1834). Lydia Maria Child dedicated her signature book, Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans, to him. Read more...