William Lloyd Garrison

          Garrison first became involved in the Abolitionist movement when he turned 25. He also became involved with the American Colonization Society (ACS), a group that said free blacks should be moved to a territory on the West Coast of Africa. He believed that the group advocated the freedom and prosperity of the African Americans, but only a minority of the group had this mindset. Their main goal was to reduce the amount of free blacks in the US to preserve slavery. But by 1830, Garrison ended up rejecting the views of the ACS. 

          At this point, he had worked as a co-editor of an anti-slavery newspaper ran by Benjamin Lundy in Maryland. This experience prompted him to start his own newspaper. On January 1st, 1831, he published the first issue of his own newspaper, the Liberator. With this newspaper and debates around the US, Garrison advocated freedom from the slaves.

            This gained him some infamy, because abolition was not a very popular idea at the time, even though he was from Massachusetts. Though the newspaper was limited in its circulation, he gained his reputation as being a radical abolitionist. He proclaimed non-violence and passive resistance to slavery. in 1832, he organized the New England Anti-Slavery Society and in 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society was also founded by him. He believed that these societies shouldn't aligned with any government parties, though when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation was a government decree, he supported it 100%.

                            By: Ben Patton & Trey Hamilton