The Old City Jail and the Ghost of Lavinia Fisher

Charleston Old City Jail, 21 Magazine Street

Halloween is on its way with its creepy crawlies and things that go bump in the night.........and so a good old Charleston ghost story might be in order! The Old Jail is certainly the right place to look for a spooky story. Built in 1802, it housed the most guilty along with the wrongly imprisoned.  Of those spooky stories, none is more spell-binding than that of Lavinia Fisher.

You may wonder how John and Lavinia Fisher came to be housed in the Old Jail. Here is the story: mostly true....maybe part legend. You be the judge!

In 1820, both John and Lavinia Fisher were executed after being found guilty of highway robbery (which was punishable by death in those days). Lavinia has often been given the dubious honor of being the first female serial killer, but wicked and rough as she was, there is no actual proof that she ever murdered anyone. John and Lavinia owned an inn six miles out of Charleston known as the Six Mile Wayfarer's Inn. Many weary travelers stopped for respite before they made their way into or out of Charleston. It was a congenial place with a hospitable host and a beautiful hostess. The trouble began when several people who had checked into the inn apparently went missing.  The authorities were notified by the families of those missing and an investigation was made; however, there was not enough evidence to determine that any of the missing had become the victims of foul play at the Fishers' inn. They did, however, determine a group of Highwaymen who used the inn as their headquarters and took the means they thought were necessary to shut them down. One man, David Ross, was left behind to spend one night at the inn. He was accosted by some of the men and when he turned to Lavinia for help, he was shocked when she began to choke him with her bare hands and ram his head into a window! He escaped with his life and headed back into town to tell what had happened.

In the meantime, a man by the name of John Peoples innocently stopped by the inn with the intent of finding a bed for the night.  At first, Lavinia told him that there were no rooms available, but she invited him in to rest by the fire and have a cup of tea. Mr. Peoples welcomed a rest before he continued his journey, but he did not like the tea Lavinia served him. Not wanting to hurt her feelings or to be impolite, he emptied the cup into a plant while she was out of the room. On her return, she plied him with so many questions that he began to feel uneasy. She did bring the news, however, that there was, indeed, a room available for him. Weariness won out over his unease and Mr. Peoples decided to take the room for the night. (Now we are moving in that wonderful land of legend!) The story goes that Mr. Peoples, uneasy about the situation, decided to sit in a chair for the night which would give him a clear view of the door.  In the middle of the night, he heard a great creaking and cracking and watched in amazement as the mattress flipped over into a pit below the room.  Supposedly, Lavinia would poison the tea, or at least lace it with a sleeping potion and John would turn a crank to drop the unsuspecting guest in a pit where he would, sadly, meet his end.........or so the legend says.....

In truth, John Peoples was attacked and robbed and promptly headed into Charleston to the police station to make his report. This report, combined with the report of David Ross, gave the authorities all the cause they needed to arrest John and Lavinia. They were taken to the Old City Jail and shared a cell as they awaited trial. They made a plan to escape by tying sheets together and climbing out of their cell. John went first and made it out, but the ladder of sheets broke and Lavinia was trapped.  He returned to jail rather than desert Lavinia.

The Fishers were tried, convicted of highway robbery and sentenced to hang. Their sentence was carried out in February of 1820. John went to his death with relative calm, but Lavinia used every ploy she could think of to change her fate. She invoked a law that exempted a married woman from being executed, so the judge promptly determined that John would die first, thus leaving Lavinia a widow - and an UNmarried woman.  She tried to seduce any man she saw to marry her (she knew there would be a priest in attendance at the execution) and save her from the noose. When all else failed, she railed, screamed, cursed, kicked and had to be forcibly carried to the place of execution. Newspapers of the time reported that over 1,100 people were present to witness her execution. From the stream of curses and vindictive screams came her last words:  "If you have a message for hell, give it to me. I'll carry it."

It is said that Lavinia's ghost haunts the old jail and many "ghostbusters" have tried to prove it.  If you're not too SCARED, have a look at one of the many videos made there and posted on youtube.

The Old City Jail has undergone a welcome transformation from its ignoble past and now houses the American College of Building Arts,  "dedicated to educating the next generation of building artisans and to preserving the building arts in a manner never before seen in America. Under the direction of our experienced faculty, students have the opportunity to receive a quality liberal arts education while they learn the skills needed to excel in their chosen field. This combination of education, training, and access to highly experienced faculty is available nowhere else in the United States."

Be sure to watch this video clip from The Early Show on CBS, highlighting the American College of Building Arts. This College is the only one of its kind in the nation and moves this historic building from serving as a place of shame to housing a college worthy of great pride.

The first "Free" Church...St. Stephen's Episcopal and the Three Sarahs

67 Anson Street

     Nestled comfortably among the historic homes and gardens of the quiet neighborhood of Ansonborough is a church that bears a distinction no other can claim. In a time when, in order to attend church, you were required to pay rent on or purchase your pew, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was established as the first "free" church in America-- where anyone who wanted to worship was welcomed no matter their race, financial  means, or social status. The early congregation (established in 1822) was a diverse mix of white and African-American (both free and slave), wealthy and destitute members. In recent years, it has returned to that diversity with both white and African-American members coming together in both worship and service.

     

     St. Stephen's owes its earliest existence to a trio of ladies dubbed "The Three Sarahs". The first of the three Sarahs was Sarah Hopton Russell, wife of wealthy merchant Nathaniel Russell and mother of two daughters, Alicia and Sarah. They made up the family that built the beautiful Federalist home at 51 Meeting Street, the Nathaniel Russell house, which now serves as a home museum maintained by Historic Charleston Foundation.  Sarah Russell was an advocate for those less fortunate and spent much of her energy and means in providing relief for the destitute.  Along with her daughter, Sarah, who married Theodore Dehon, Second Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina, and Sarah Rutledge, daughter of Edward Rutledge, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of South Carolina, Sarah Russell set out to provide a place of worship for those who could not afford the pew rent necessary for worship in other churches. Together they founded the Ladies Benevolent Association in 1819. They began to elicit funds to make this a reality. Sarah Rutledge authored a cookbook entitled "The Carolina Housewife", with the proceeds going to establish a free church. Sarah Russell donated land on Guignard Street to be used for the construction of the new church building.  In 1924, the new building was consecrated.       
     
     Sadly, the structure burned in the fire of 1835. A few items, including the organ and a tablet for Mrs. Russell were saved from the fire and are in the present church. The new church was built on Anson Street and was probably designed and built by John and Henry Horlbeck who owned Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. Their brickyard supplied the bricks used in the chapel. The Anson Street chapel, beautiful in its simplicity is constructed of stuccoed brick in a simple Greek Revival style. It stood unscathed in the Great Fire of 1838 which miraculously spared the church by a sudden change of the direction of the wind. 

     In a church built on inclusiveness, they insisted that no one would ever be turned away. All who enter this historic church are reminded of this promise with the words engraved over the door:  "My house shall be called a house of prayer for ALL people".



     

      

The Confederate Home......Mary Amarinthia Snowden's Legacy of Sanctuary

The Confederate Home, 62 Broad Street

     Perhaps you have glimpsed this stately Victorian building as you hurried along Broad St. It sits solidly along the street known for law offices and business buildings. Yet, if you simply hurried by, you missed the gift inside -- the sanctuary of retreat, reflection and safety that has marked its history and its story.

       Built in 1800 by Gilbert Chalmers, the building does indeed border Chalmers St. as it fronts Broad St. In the beginning it was the home of Chalmers' daughter and her husband, Gov. John Geddes, and it bore witness to the political entertaining that was an integral part of the office they represented. Many prominent citizens were hosted here, including President James Monroe in 1819. In 1834, the property was sold to Angus Stewart and became the Carolina Hotel. In the years preceding the Civil War, the U.S. District Court was held on the second floor. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, in a pronouncement and action that must have been dramatic at least, Judge Andrew Gordon Magrath closed the courtroom with the words, "The Temple of Justice is now closed".  From 1861 until February of 1865, the Confederate court met here.

     The heart of the story of the Confederate Home begins in 1867 when Mary Amarinthia Snowden and her sister, Isabell, saw a need that they longed to fill. Their goal was to provide a home -  a sanctuary if you will - for mothers, widows and daughters of Confederate soldiers. The old Carolina Hotel on Broad Street was the object of their attention. With seven other like-minded women and one Huguenot minister, they began meeting in earnest at the Snowden home. In the years immediately following the war, Charleston was struggling on every level....from economic impossibilities to physical devastation. Fund-raising was challenging at best. There was only one dollar in the coffers for the Confederate Home and it had been contributed by a Baltimore widow!  The Snowden sisters mortgaged their own home in order to pay the rent on the Carolina Hotel ---and set it on the road to accomplishing the vision that Mary Amarinthia had held. The education of young women was not a high priority in the general public during those lean years; however, for the young women who came to be a part of the Confederate Home, education was a critical means to a better life and a better community. By 1900, The Confederate Home became known as The Confederate College and was chartered by the state. Many instructors, including Dr. Charles Vedder, pastor of the French Huguenot Church, taught the young women at The Confederate College - and did so without benefit of salary.

Courtyard of The Confederate Home

          Today, The Confederate Home fulfills a purpose not far removed from the one Amarinthia Snowden envisioned -- one of sanctuary for women, reflection for artists and education for the greater good - and a promise of a better life. The dormitories have been converted to apartments and fifteen older and economically-challenged women call this place home. In addition, fifteen studios provide space for Charleston's artists and writers to reflect and create. The old courtroom is used for lectures and other events and young couples have said their wedding vows in this place that once gave hope and promise to young women of a different era.
   

Rev. Daniel Jenkins and the Jenkins Orphanage Band

Portrait of Rev. Daniel Jenkins displayed in the City Council Chamber  in Charleston City Hall, 80 Broad St.

         On a cold December day in 1891, Rev. Daniel Jenkins happened to come across four young black boys, all under the age of 12, huddled together in an abandoned warehouse. He discovered that they were all orphans and were left to fend for themselves on the streets. Rev. Jenkins immediately took them home with him and gave them a place to live and a sense of family. Unfortunately, these four boys were simply the tip of a huge iceberg that represented the hundreds of young black orphans in Charleston who had no place to live and no parents to care for them. While there were nine orphanages in South Carolina for white orphans, none existed for black orphans. Rev. Jenkins set about to change the lives of the boys he encountered and the many others they represented......and the Jenkins orphanage was born.
        In January of 1892, Rev. Jenkins petitioned the city for the use of the abandoned Marine Hospital on Franklin Street and received permission for its use and a small stipend. Robert Mills, who designed the Washington Monument, as well as other famous national, state and local buildings, was the architect. The building was built in 1834 and had once served as a hospital, but was badly damaged during the war. It was located right beside the City Jail which was, no doubt, a source of both fear and motivation for the young boys living at the orphanage. 

Site of Jenkins Orphanage, formerly Marine Hospital, 20 Franklin St.

        Rev. Jenkins' primary goal was to teach each of his young charges to become self-sufficient so that as adults they would no longer need to rely on the charity of others. To achieve this goal, he felt that farm land need to be purchased to teach the boys the skills the would need to become self-sufficient. He petitioned the City of Charleston for funds, but was denied. He could barely afford to make the orphanage livable and provide for the basic needs of the children. Funds were not readily available for South Carolina's only black orphanage even though over 360 orphans lived at the orphanage now, instead of on the streets of Charleston. In desperation he searched around for ideas that could help raise the necessary funds.....and the Jenkins Orphanage Band was born.  His plan was based on the military bands of the day. His requests for funds were not very successful; however, a request for instruments yielded more fruitful results. Old instruments were donated, with a large donation of new and used instruments from Siegling Music House on King St. Graduating Citadel cadets donated their old uniforms which became the first uniforms of the Jenkins Orphanage Band. Rev. Jenkins was not a musician himself and so he hired two local musicians to teach the boys: "Hatsie" Logan and Francis Eugene Mikell. They learned not only to play instruments, but music theory and music history, as well.

        Soon the band was playing on street corners all over Charleston to try to raise as much money as possible to keep the orphanage open. Unfortunately, funds were much too meager but, instead of giving up, Rev. Jenkins used his last remaining funds to take the 13 member band on a tour of some northern cities. Their success was less than they had hoped, but, once again, Rev. Jenkins was not ready to give up. With the last bit of money they had, he took the group to London. There they performed on the streets of London....and were promptly arrested for disturbing the peace. The group, which had become a favorite on the streets of London, suddenly received the support of the churches in the area and a favorable support in the newspapers.

          By1896, the band had established regular tour routes up and down the Eastern coast and in Europe. They played in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vienna and London. In 1905, the band played in President Roosevelt's inaugural parade and President Taft's inaugural parade in 1909. In the 1910s and 20s, the band included the styles and rhythms of the jazz beats sweeping the nation and the Gullah songs and dances of their lowcountry heritage. DuBose Heyward insisted that the band play for the two year run of his play Porgy on Broadway and they performed at each performance. By now, there were five separate bands and two vocal ensembles. 

       Follow this link to a rare audio tape and early pictures of the
Jenkins Orphanage Band

        Some of jazz music's finest players received their musical training in the Jenkins Orphanage Band. Among them, Jabbo Smith (contemporary and rival of Louis Armstrong), Cat Anderson (who was a lead trumpet player in Duke Ellington's Band), Freddie Green (famous jazz rhythm guitarist) and Edmond Thornton Jenkins (famous clarinetist and composer and son of orphanage founder Rev. Daniel Jenkins).  I would encourage you to explore the many video and audio tapes found on the web and particularly on youtube of each of these musicians, remembering their beginnings as members of the Jenkins Orphanage Band.

       In the August 26, 1937 issue of Time Magazine, an article and picture were published honoring Rev. Daniel Jenkins and the Jenkins Orphanage Band.

       Rev. Jenkins' dream continues even today with The Jenkins Institute for Children. Explore their website and see the plans of Rev. Daniel Jenkins still impacting children of the 21st century who need a dream just as much as those who went before them. They are deserving of our support!

Elizabeth Timothy.......America's First Female Newspaper Editor and Publisher

 

97 King Street, Timothy Printing Shop

     In 1731, Louis Timothee, his wife Elizabeth and their four children - ranging in age from one to six -  arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam as members of a group of French Huguenot immigrants. The family settled in Philadelphia where Louis advertised in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette seeking work as a French tutor. Franklin evidently was impressed with the young man and taught him what he could of the newspaper and printing business. Timothee soon anglicized his name and became Lewis Timothy. 

     Benjamin Franklin had sent a young man named Thomas Whitmarsh to Charleston to set up a newspaper there called The South Carolina Gazette. Unfortunately, Whitmarsh died after being in Charleston only two years and the position became available for Lewis Timothy. Lewis and Elizabeth moved their family to Charleston where Lewis assumed the publication of The South Carolina Gazette in partnership with Benjamin Franklin -  and Elizabeth went about the equally challenging business of raising their growing family, now consisting of six children. 

     Just before Christmas in 1738, Lewis died suddenly in an accident. Elizabeth was expecting their seventh child any day at the time of her husband's death. No one would have blamed her if she had thrown her hands up with the overwhelming future she faced as a widow with seven children under the age of thirteen --- but that was not Elizabeth's way. Not an issue of The South Carolina Gazette was missed. Elizabeth Timothy took over the operation of the newspaper and the print shop  - becoming the first female newspaper editor and printer in America. Adding to her loss, two of her children died in the fall following her husband's death. Yet, Elizabeth Timothy upheld her husband's contract with Benjamin Franklin -- even being (according to Franklin, himself) a far better business person than her husband had been! She trained her thirteen year old son, Peter, to take over the business and actually published the paper in his name.

    Elizabeth Timothy ran the newspaper and was the official printer for the colony until her son, Peter, turned twenty-one -- at which time she turned The South Carolina Gazette over to him -- even though his name had appeared as editor since the death of his father.

    Peter Timothy was quite politically active and was an advocate for freedom before the Revolutionary War. He was a well-respected journalist in his own right. Sadly, he was lost at sea in 1782. Following the tradition set before her, his widow, Ann, continued publication of the newspaper -- eventually turning The South Carolina Gazette over to their son Benjamin Franklin Timothy.

     Elizabeth Timothy played a critical role in the development of the colony and the yearning of a people for freedom. In 1973, Elizabeth Timothy was inducted into the South Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame and into the Business Hall of Fame in 2000. 

             



                                                                               

Porgy and Bess....the Charleston connection

Catfish "Cabbage" Row, Church Street

  

The setting.......the fictional Catfish Row (based on the real Cabbage Row) in Charleston, SC

The characters.......the African American inhabitants of this poverty-stricken row---Porgy, a crippled man of Catfish Row who makes his way around in a makeshift cart---Bess, the woman who comes into Porgy's life----Crown, the local bully who was once Bess's boyfriend---Sportin' Life, who puts a humorous perspective on an array of near impossible situations---and all the other colorful characters who make their lives and their livelihood on Charleston's Catfish Row.

The music!......"Summertime", "I've Got Plenty of Nuttin'", "It Ain't Necessarily So", "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", "Street Vendors Calls"......and many more!

Catfish Row

 The author.....Dubose Heyward was born in Charleston in 1885, just one year before the great earthquake of 1886. Although he was descended from an illustrious family, (Thomas Heyward, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence was an ancestor), he grew up in a family of poor means. Heyward's father was killed in a work accident when he was just a boy, leaving he and his mother to manage on their own.  Young Heyward suffered from a range of serious ailments throughout his life (He contracted polio when he was 18) and dropped out of school at the age of 14. He had, however, a lifelong passion for literature and poetry. As an adult, he worked as a pay clerk on the docks until he was able to devote himself to writing full-time. The time Heyward was living and writing in Charleston became known as the Charleston Renaissance. The first half of the twentieth century brought many artists, musicians and writers to Charleston to become a part of this climate of creativity. DuBose Heyward flourished in this atmosphere and, along with his friend, Hervey Allen, helped form the Poetry Society of South Carolina.

       Heyward was exposed to the Gullah culture of Charleston by the African Americans he encountered and especially by his mother who was a great lover of the Gullah songs. She sang in a group which performed Gullah songs and sometimes DuBose joined her. All of these influences worked together to to culminate in his novel Porgy, published in 1925. It was quite a success and Heyward and his wife, Dorothy, wrote a play based on the novel. This led to the collaboration with George Gershwin which produced the American folk-opera, "Porgy and Bess".

DuBose Heyward's home, 76 Church Street

The composer......George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898. George and his brother, Ira, became a formidable composer and lyricist team. When he came across DuBose Heyward's book, Porgy, Gershwin knew that he had found the vehicle for a folk opera using the jazz and blues sounds he longed to explore. George and Ira Gershwin had created a name for themselves on Broadway with a number of successful productions under their belts, but this was an enormous undertaking for both the Gershwins and the Heywards. George came to Charleston and stayed at a home on Folly Beach to immerse himself in the culture and the atmosphere of Charleston. Ira and DuBose worked together on the lyrics with much of the recitative sections taken directly from the novel. This was the first opera for George Gershwin and, sadly, would be his last. "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway 1935 and in only two years, George Gershwin died from a brain tumor. He was only thirty-eight years old.

The Performances....."Porgy and Bess" opened in Boston in 1935 before its Broadway run instead of Charleston because of the issue of racial separation in Charleston. Would black audience members be allowed to sit in the theater next to white theater goers or would they be relegated to the balcony, as was the general practice of the day? Sadly, the white audience could not see past their bias and the show was cancelled in Charleston. Enjoy this clip of "Summertime" from the 1959 movie version: 

Today, "Porgy and Bess" has undergone a revival on Broadway and is thrilling audiences more than 75 years after its original Broadway debut.  This clip of Audra MacDonald, Norm Lewis and the cast members of "Porgy and Bess" is a medley of songs from the current revival. 

"Porgy and Bess" at Footlight Players (performed at historic Dock Street Theatre)
       I hope that this bit of history about this "one-of-a-kind" folk opera has whetted your appetite for more. If so, you are in luck, because the Footlight Players are treating us to their production of "Porgy and Bess" running from August 3rd - August 19th. All performances will be at Dock Street Theatre. Don't miss the opportunity to see this classic opera presented in the city of its origin by actors and musicians who call Charleston home. This production is directed by Henry Clay Middleton. For more information, follow this link to Footlight Players.

The Grimke Sisters, Sarah and Angelina -- and the Remarkable "Rest of the Story"

329 East Bay St., home of the Grimke family

Prominent jurist and Revolutionary political leader, Judge John Grimke and his wife Mary enjoyed their place in the Charleston society scene, as well as their life on their Beaufort plantation. Little did they know that two of their fourteen children would spend their lifetimes rallying others against the very thing that made the Grmikes’ life possible -- slavery. 

Their daughter,Sarah Grimke, was born in 1792 and, even as a young child, could see the inhumanity that slavery brought to her own household. She spoke out against slavery essentially all of her life. All around her she saw the way of life of which she was a part made possible on the backs of the slaves her father owned. Each of the Grimke children (three died in infancy) was assigned a “constant companion” -- a slave child close to them in age who served their every whim. Even as a child, Sarah rebelled against this idea and when her young slave “companion” died at the age of eight as a result of a fever, she grieved greatly and adamantly refused to be assigned another “companion”. Unfortunately, Sarah was alone in her beliefs and her distress over the plight of the slaves and she became an outcast in her own home.

Sarah’s life changed dramatically when she was thirteen years old. The youngest of the Grimke children, Angelina, was born in 1805. Immediately, Sarah took charge of her youngest sister - even begging her parents to name her as Angelina’s godmother, to which they agreed. In the years ahead, the two girls became inseparable. Angelina shared her older sister’s view on the issue of slavery and Sarah was no longer alone in her own home.

Judge Grimke became quite ill and Sarah accompanied him to Philadelphia for medical treatment. The treatment was unsuccessful and after several months, Judge Grimke died in New Jersey in 1819. Sarah, by this time, had enjoyed living in a place where others shared her views on slavery and she decided to leave Charleston behind and relocate to Philadelphia where she became a vocal abolitionist. She left the Episcopal church and became a Quaker. With Sarah’s encouragement, Angelina soon joined her sister. They lived together and became outspoken advocates for ending slavery. As they became more well-known and were invited to address more and more groups, they ran into another sort of prejudice. They were scorned for their activism, not so much because of what they believed, but because they were women. Women who held strong opinions and were willing - even adamant - about expressing them in public forums were the brunt of anger and ridicule. Sarah and Angelina began to see that in order to proclaim their message against slavery, they also had to address the inequities faced by women. Sarah wrote, “All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on the ground which God intends for us to occupy”.  This short video is an interview with Eric Foner concerning the Grimke sisters:

".........and now for the REST of the story!"

 Sarah and Angelina had a brother named Henry who raised his family in his Charleston townhouse and on their plantation outside of Charleston. When his wife died, Henry raised another family -- with one of his slaves, Nancy Weston. From all indications, it was a marriage of mutual affection and Henry, discovering that Charleston society did not look acceptingly on the idea of an interracial couple living openly in the city, moved his new family to the more private plantation. Henry and Nancy had three sons, Archibald, Francis, and John. When Nancy was pregnant with John, Henry died. Because it was illegal at that time in South Carolina to free your own slaves, Henry willed the family to his oldest son, Montague, with directions that they “be treated as members of the family”. Instead, Nancy and her sons were ignored for several years and, even though they were technically still slaves, they lived in the free black community in Charleston. They received no support from the Grimke family and Nancy was forced to take in laundry and whatever menial work she could do to keep the family fed. Imagine their surprise when Henry’s oldest son summoned them, not to help them, but to treat them as servants in his home! The boys were educated in Charleston and were accepted to Lincoln University. John chose not to go and stayed with his mother. Archibald and Francis went to the University with first year tuition paid by a church committee who saw the promise in the young students. Their room and board was not covered and they struggled to survive, as well as to study.

By chance, Angelina saw the name “Archibald Grimke” in an abolitionist magazine which reported on a speech the young man gave. She wrote to him to see if they might be related and was astonished to find that she had three nephews she had never known! She and Sarah immediately welcomed the young men as family, assumed the cost of their education and became an influential part of their lives.

Archibald Grimke was one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Harvard Law School and soon became a well-respected lawyer, journalist and community leader in the Boston area. He married a white woman from the midwest. Even though the marriage did not survive, the couple had one daughter whom they named after the sister who had found and claimed him - Angelina. (more about young Angelina in a minute!) Archibald was appointed as consul to the Dominican Republic.

Archibald’s brother, Francis Grimke, became a Presbyterian minister and studied at Princeton Theological Seminary. Most of his ministry was at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. He was active in the community and in working for equal rights for African-Americans and helped found the NAACP. He wrote, “Race prejudice can’t be talked down, it must be lived down.” He and his wife, Charlotte, who was a well-known writer herself, had one daughter who died as an infant.

Angelina Weld Grimke, Archibald’s daughter, was sent to live with him at the age of eight when her mother died. When her father was sent as consul to the Dominican Republic, Angelina was sent to live with her uncle and aunt, Francis and Charlotte. Angelina grew up to be a poet and playwright, focusing on the theme of equality for all - carrying forward the ideas and words that were a part of her direct heritage from two little girls who dared to see an injustice and were courageous enough to speak up and to speak out to the world.