(December 10, 1805–May 24, 1879), was an abolitionist leader and the publisher of The Liberator, an anti-slavery paper in Boston. He founded the 4 in 1833 and suffered hundreds of threats upon his life for his politically incorrect stand that a human being was not property. In the face of pro-slavery government, laws, court decisions, public opinion, and even pseudo “scientific theories” that Negroes were “biologically inferior” and therefore denied the right to life and freedom, William Lloyd Garrison printed the first issue of The Liberator on January 1, 1831:
It is pretended, that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge is not true. On this question my influence,—humble as it is,—is felt at this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years—not perniciously, but beneficially—not as a curse, but as a blessing; and posterity will bear testimony that I was right.
I desire to thank God, that he enables me to disregard “the fear of man which bringeth a snare,” and to speak his truth in its simplicity and power. And here I close with this fresh dedication:
“ … I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalizing sway—till Afric’s chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod:
Such is the vow I take—SO HELP ME GOD!”2231
In his writings, W.P. and F.J.T. Garrison, published 1885–89, William Lloyd Garrison explained:
Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.2232