History
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This Charleston double house was built before 1789 by William Blake, a planter and descendant of former Proprietary Governor Joseph Blake. By 1803 Mary Smith Grimké, a descendant of Landgrave Thomas Smith, and Judge John F. Grimké, a planter and state Supreme Court justice, lived there with their 11 children, including Sarah Grimké and Angelina Grimké. Sarah and Angelina became leading advocates for equal rights for African Americans and women. From 1836 to 1838, as the first female agents of the abolitionist movement, they traveled the Northeast as lecturers and organizers. In 1837 they helped organize the first national convention of white and black women, and that same year Sarah published a full-fledged argument for women's equal rights. In 1838 Angelina became the first American woman to address a legislative body when she spoke to a committee of the Massachusetts legislature. Neither sister ever returned to Charleston.
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Charleston, South Carolina · United States
