| | by admin | | posted on 18th June 2025 in Quakers in 100 Objects | | views 155 | |
Lucretia Mott's Bonnet was worn while preaching abolition of slavery and women's rights—quiet, plain, and steadfast as the convictions she carried.
Lucretia Coffin Mott was born in 1793 on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, into a Quaker family whose values shaped her from childhood. She attended the Nine Partners School in New York, where she later taught-and where she first learned that male teachers were paid more than their female counterparts, an injustice that stirred her early awareness of gender inequality.
In 1811 she married James Mott, a fellow Quaker and lifelong ally in activism. She was recognised as a Quaker minister in 1821, and began travelling to speak publicly & an unusual path for a woman at the time. Her plain bonnet, typical of Quaker women, became emblematic of her ministry: modest, purposeful, and rooted in spiritual integrity.
As a minister, Mott preached that slavery was a moral evil incompatible with Christian faith. In 1833, she helped found the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, one of the earliest interracial abolitionist organisations led by women. She worked closely with other leading figures of the movement, including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Sojourner Truth. Her home became a station on the Underground Railroad, and her words became a source of courage for many.
“I am no advocate of passivity,” she once said, “But I do believe that the weapons of the Christian are not carnal.” This blend of moral clarity and nonviolent resolve made her a compelling force in both Quaker meetings and public gatherings. Though small in stature, she held large crowds with calm authority, appealing to conscience and scripture alike.
Mott recognised early that the fight for the abolition of slavery and the struggle for women’s equality were deeply connected. She saw both as expressions of the same injustice: the denial of full humanity and moral agency. As she said plainly, “The cause of reform is one. Slavery cannot be abolished without a revolution in the condition of woman.”
In abolitionist circles, Mott challenged the silencing of women, while among feminists she insisted that true freedom must include the liberation of the enslaved. She travelled widely, giving sermons and lectures that wove these two causes together, urging her listeners to see that justice must be indivisible.
In 1840, when she was barred from participating as a delegate at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London because of her sex, she remained undeterred. That event would inspire her later to co-organise the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848-the first formal assembly for women’s rights in the United States. There, she delivered the opening address, helping frame the “Declaration of Sentiments,” which called for legal and social equality for women.
Lucretia Mott died in 1880, having lived through slavery, civil war, and the early stirrings of women’s suffrage. She left behind not only a lifetime of public service, but a spiritual and political legacy that would influence generations of reformers, including Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul.
Her bonnet-simple, unadorned, reminds us that clothing can carry testimony. In her case, it was the sign of a woman led by conscience, grounded in faith, and prepared to speak truth in every place she was called.
As she once said, “Let our lives be in accordance with our convictions of right, each striving to carry out our principles.” Her life, like her bonnet, remains a plain and powerful witness.
