|
|
|
Historical Documents Benezet Instructing Colored Children 1850 |
Resource Bank Contents |
click image for close-upFew likenesses exist of Anthony Benezet, the 19th century teacher and abolitionist. A humble man who considered himself homely, he once declined a request to sit for a portrait by saying, "O no, no, my ugly face shall not go down to posterity." In his 1817 biography of Benezet, abolitionist Robert Vaux described him as a small man with a face "that beamed with benignant animation."
This engraving of Benezet, taken from a book published in 1850, shows him teaching two black children, a calling which he joyfully pursued for half a century.
Image Credit: by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University
Related Entries:
• Anthony Benezet
• Founding of Pennsylvania Abolition Society
Part 3: Narrative | Resource Bank Contents | Teacher's Guide
Africans in America: Home | Resource Bank Index | Search | Shop
WGBH | PBS Online | ©
