Anthony Benezet

Anthony Benezet (31 January 1713 - 3 May 1784) Read more

Anthony Benezet was born 31 January 1713 in St. Quentin in northern France.

He was a Quaker teacher, writer and abolitionist. His family were Huguenots - French protestants - who had been suffering increasing persecution since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In 1715, when Benezet was two years old, they emigrated to London, England where he received an education suitable for the son of a prosperous family of merchants. London proved to be a temporary home. In 1731, when Benezet was seventeen years of age, the family emigrated once more, this time to 115 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia in the British American colony of Pennsylvania. Here Benezet joined the Society of Friends, or Quakers. His early attempts at a career in trade were unsuccessful and, in 1739, he started as schoolteacher at Germantown. Three years later, he moved to a position at the famous Friends' English School of Philadelphia (now the William Penn Charter School) where he was noted both for being a fine teacher, and for his dislike of the severe discipline then common.

In 1750, in addition to his day duties he set up an evening class for slave children, which he ran from his own home. In 1754, he left the Friends' English School to set up one of his own exclusively for girls - the first public girls' school in America. He was dogged by ill health, however, and was not able to maintain an uninterrupted career.