Elizabeth Margaret Chandler was born on December 24, 1807, and died on November 2, 1834. She was an American poet and writer who was born in Pennsylvania and later lived in Michigan. She is known as the first woman in the United States to write about ending slavery as her main subject.

Early life and education

Chandler was born in Centre, Delaware, on Christmas Eve, 1807, to Thomas Chandler (1773–1817) and Margaret Evans (1778–1808). She had two older brothers, William Guest Chandler (1804–1873) and Thomas Chandler (1806–?). The family was part of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, and they lived a strict, organized, and disciplined life typical of Quaker families.

By the time she was nine years old, both of her parents had passed away. Chandler and her brothers moved to live with their grandmother, Elizabeth Guest Evans (1744–1827), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth attended a Quaker school and supported the Quaker belief in ending slavery. She began writing poems at a very young age. She left school around the age of twelve or thirteen (sources disagree), but she continued to read and write with great interest.

Career

At the age of sixteen, Elizabeth Chandler's poems about love and nature were first published. In 1825, when she was 18 years old, her emotional poem, "The Slave-Ship," was published and gained national attention. After reading her poem, Benjamin Lundy, a well-known abolitionist and publisher, invited her to write for his newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. She wrote and edited the "Ladies' Repository" section of his newspaper. She used her ability to connect with women to ask for better treatment for Native Americans and the immediate freeing of enslaved people. She became one of the most influential female writers of her time. She often described the sad experience of enslaved women being separated from their children and husbands to gain support from her readers. When told that women could not end slavery, Chandler explained that, as mothers, women have a special role:

It is difficult to measure how much influence her writings had on the public. However, many of her articles were copied and shared in popular newspapers of the time. She also introduced a famous abolitionist image: a kneeling enslaved woman with the slogan "Am I not a Woman and a Sister." This image was based on a picture of an enslaved man used for the seal of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, designed by Wedgwood. Two years later, William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator and a leader in the abolitionist movement, used this symbol and slogan for the women's section of his newspaper, one of the most important abolitionist papers of the time. In his obituary for Lundy, Garrison wrote, "It was friend Lundy's good fortune to have the help of Elizabeth M. Chandler for several years in managing his paper—a young woman of extraordinary talents, fully dedicated to helping the oppressed gain freedom. Her writings were published in a book and are known to abolitionists, but her devotion to the cause has not been fully recognized."

In 1830, Elizabeth Margaret Chandler moved, with her aunt and brother, to the territory of Michigan. Her brother, Thomas Chandler, bought land near Tecumseh, Michigan, in Lenawee County, about sixty miles southwest of Detroit, to start a farm. They named the place Hazlebank.

Chandler shared her views on abolitionism through articles and poems. She continued to edit Benjamin Lundy's abolitionist journal.

While living in Philadelphia, Chandler was part of a Female Anti-Slavery Society, even though she wasn't very active. After moving to Michigan, she helped create the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1832 with her friend and neighbor, Laura Smith Haviland.

The Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society helped create a key connection to the Underground Railroad leading to Canada.

Death

Chandler died from "remittent fever" on November 2, 1834, just before her 27th birthday. She was buried near the family farm in Hazlebank. Her articles, poems, and letters were collected and published in two books by Benjamin Lundy. The money from selling those books was used to support the cause of abolition.