|
| Who Is My #1 Greatest American? -- William Lloyd Garrison |
|
| |
I have been counting down my Top 10 Greatest Americans of all time based on their commitment to the principles that "all men are created equal" and "liberty and justice for all". (You might want to read the stories about numbers 10 - 2 in previous posts.)
So who is number one -- the greatest American of all time? William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was born to a poor family in 1805. As a young man he met Benjamin Lundy who published a newspaper called, the Genius of Universal Emancipation and was almost single-handedly speaking out against slavery. Garrison began to work with Lundy and caught a heart-felt vision for liberty and justice for all Americans. He begin to work passionately and tirelessly for freedom for the slaves which was a very unpopular cause at the time, even in the North. Garrison insisted on immediate emancipation.
Garrison and a few others founded the Anti-Slavery Society which gradually grew to have a wide influence. In 1831 he began to publish The Liberator, a weekly anti-slavery newspaper which at great financial sacrifice, he published until all the slaves were freed in 1865.
This caused Garrison to be hated across American. He was almost killed by a pro-slavery mob in his home town of Boston. Almost every day he received letters containing threats of violence against him. The state of Georgia even put a $5000 price on his head.
Garrison, through his non-religious Christian faith, held to his view of non-violent resistance. He believed in using persuasion (which he called "moral suasion") rather than violence. He saw slavery for the terrible crime that it was and boldly spoke out against it no matter what it cost him personally. With fiery words, a prophet's passion, and a hero's courage he forced the country to face it's most crucial moral issue -- the act of forcibly holding three million men, women, and children in life-long servitude, bondage, and degradation while hypocritically proclaiming human freedom.
The greatest American has been mostly brushed aside by historians or pictured as a crazy radical. His greatness for the most part has been missed by American historians. But Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy, was strongly influenced by Garrison's non-violent direct action and wrote about it in his book, The Kingdom of God.
An Indian man name Gandhi read Tolstoy's work and adopted Garrison's non-violent direct action using it to free the nation of India from British control. A Southern American pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr., went to India to visit Mahatma Gandhi and adopted non-violent direct action as the cornerstone for the American Civil Rights Movement.
 William Lloyd Garrison is my hero. Oh that we had more people like him today. A wonderful biography of Garrison is: "All on Fire" by Henry Mayer. |
|
| To add a comment to "Who Is My #1 Greatest American? -- William Lloyd Garrison" |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
 |
|
|
Steve, such a great series on great Americans. Also a great "Black History Month" series, don't you think? Too bad these courageous people go mostly unnoticed by the population at large. Thanks for bringing them to our attention, at least to this forum.
|
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
|
|
|
| Steve, I second Ed's comment! These folks you've blogged about are truly inspirational for what they accomplished! |
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
|
|
|
| awsome Steve, I have sooo enjoyed your list of great Americans. How very insiteful, and educational they have been. Thank you. |
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
|
|
|
| Thanks Tammy, Mike, and Ed. I am glad you enjoyed the series. |
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
|
|
|
Wonderful and inspirational, thank you for telling the story of your famous #1 American hero, Steve.
Love,
Della |
|
|
| March 28, 2008 |
|
|
|
Steve,
Great series, brother. Very inspirational.
I was reading in the Wikipedia about William Garrison. He was compatriots with Fredrick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony. It mentions that Garrison credits as his inspiration a Reverend John Rankin of Ohio. Rankin who was a Presbyterian minister may have set in motion the non-violent opposition movement by virtue of his Biblical training and faith in Christ. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the efforts of all those famous people actually be inspired by Jesus who went like a lamb to the slaughter.
(PS Rankin was a famous "conductor" on the Underground railroad and once told of a female slave who fled from Kentucky across the frozen Ohio River. The Mrs Stowe was impressed and incorporated the story into a book she was writing called Uncle Tom's Cabin. I just love how all this is so intertwined!) |
|
|
| March 29, 2008 |
|
|
|
| Thanks Della. |
|
|
| March 29, 2008 |
|
|
|
| Gene: I love the stories of brave Americans who dared to stand against the majority and boldly speak up for human rights. Most of the ones I have read about were strong Christians. |
|
|
| March 29, 2008 |
|
|
|
I've loved this series Steve! I can't believe I've never heard of some of these people...the history buff in me is ashamed, although glad that I know these names now! |
|
|
| March 29, 2008 |
|
|
|
| I'm glad you enjoyed it, Jeremiah. The books pictured in each post are great and will give you much more information if you want it. I love reading about these people because their courage inspires me so much. |
|
|
Follow this blog
