Friendly economics How Quakers in nortH CaroLina used tHe marketpLaCe to Free ensLaved peopLe From Bondage Christina Hitchcock
In 1738 Benjamin Lay (1682–1759) walked into the Yearly Meeting of the Philadelphia Society of Friends wearing a plain coat and carrying what appeared to be a Bible. It was actually a hollowed-out book, which concealed a pig’s bladder full of red-dyed liquid. An adamant abolitionist, Lay was known for performing freakish or terrifying stunts to draw the attention of his fellow Quakers to the plight of enslaved people. He once kidnapped a child from a Quaker family to demonstrate how slaves felt when their children were torn away from them, and another time he stood outside in the snow in his bare feet to illustrate the suffering and poverty they were forced to endure. Now he had something special planned for the peace-loving Quakers attending the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1738. As the delegates discussed the business of the society, Lay rose to speak. Witnesses report that he said,
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“Oh all you Negro masters who are contentedly holding your fellow creatures in a state of slavery . . . you might as well throw off the plain coat as I do.” At this point Lay threw off his coat to reveal full military uniform, including a sword (shocking to pacifist Quakers). He continued, “It would be as justifiable in the sight of the Almighty . . . if you should thrust a sword through their hearts as I do this book!” Lay drew his sword and stabbed the “Bible” he carried, causing what appeared to be blood to gush forth. Not surprisingly Lay was hustled out, and the Philadelphia Quakers immediately disowned any relationship with him and made it known that he did not speak for or represent them. Lay was a man ahead of his time, but his odd and prophetic life paved the way for the Society of Friends to become one of the very few North American Christian denominations able to purge slavery from its midst, both in the North and the South, and advocate for the liberty of Black Americans.
no wills for you John Woolman (1720–1772) was born a generation after Benjamin Lay. Although his spirit and demeanor were gentler than Lay’s—fitting well with the Quaker commitment to pacifism—he was no less zealous in his opposition to slavery or his desire to see it banished from the Society of Friends. Woolman’s genius lay in his willingness to use everyday economic exchanges and systems to protest slavery. For example, he earned his living in part by acting as a public notary. In this capacity he was often called upon to write wills, but he refused to author any document that treated human beings as property, explaining to his fellow Quakers “in a friendly way that I could not write any instruments by which my fellow-creatures were made slaves.”
Christian History
William Williams—Benjamin lay, 1790 . national Portrait Gallery, smithsonian institution / [PuBlic domain] Wikimedia
listen up Benjamin Lay (without his pig bladder) posed for this portrait, commissioned by Benjamin Franklin in 1750.
