Anthony Benezet

Anthony Benezet, or Antoine Benezet ( born January 31, 1713 Saint- Quentin, † May 3, 1784 in Philadelphia ) was an American teacher and abolitionist.

Biography

Anthony Benezet was born in 1713 when Antoine Benezet in Saint -Quentin, France. His family were Huguenots. Because of the persecutions of Protestants left the family in France, first to Rotterdam, then to Greenwich and then to London. 1727 he joined the Religious Society of Friends. 1731 the family emigrated to Philadelphia from.

Anthony Benezet and John Woolman were the first American abolitionists. In Philadelphia, he managed to convince the Quakers believe that slavery was incompatible with the Christian faith. He said that the prohibition of slavery would apply to the British Isles for the colonies that became the United States.

After several unsuccessful years as a businessman, he began in 1739 as a teacher at a school in German Town, Pennsylvania. In 1742 he went to Quaker school in Philadelphia (now the William Penn Charter School ). From 1750, he offered instruction in night classes for black slaves.

In 1754 he left the Quaker and founded his own school, the first school for girls in the Americas. In 1770 he founded the Negro School in Philadelphia.

Benezet died on May 3, 1784 he was buried in the Quäkerfriedhof in Philadelphia.