Join us in person or online for a seminar with Dr Kate Rivington.
The Informalities of the Transatlantic Antislavery Movement
In this paper I make a case for why we must consult the informal elements of the antislavery movement to appreciate the vital contributions of female abolitionists in a different light. Using the case study of abolitionism in the mid-nineteenth century transatlantic world, I look at a variety of examples. Looking at the personal bonds between abolitionists allows us to appreciate the emotional, caring, as well as the administrative labour of female activists, who were constrained, particularly in the case of Britain, from participating in more traditional avenues of the abolitionist movement. Another important element of this analysis is considering the hospitality women such as Anna Douglass – wife of Frederick Douglass – provided for a constant stream of abolitionists coming in and out of their private homes even while their husbands were away for months, and sometimes years on end. A final point of discussion will be the ways in which female abolitionists functioned as confidantes and provided emotional support for their husbands, as we will see with Helen Garrison, as the perceived radical nature of her husband William Lloyd Garrison’s views on slavery made him a target of public ire. This type of work might look different than what we understand to be traditional activism, but it must be appreciated nonetheless.
26 August 2026, 11am AEST
Burwood: C2.05.01
Waurn Ponds: IC1.108
Zoom: Click here.
Dr. Kate Rivington is a lecturer in history in the School of Philosophical, Historical and Indigenous Studies at Monash University. She received her PhD from Monash in 2023 and has since published in leading journals such as Slavery & Abolition and The Historical Journal. She is currently working on her first book, The Intimacies of Reform: Personal Bonds and Transatlantic Abolitionism in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, contracted with LSU Press.
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