An Address at the African Masonic Hall

In February 1833, the African American orator and abolitionist Maria W. Stewart gave a controversial speech at Boston’s African Masonic Lodge which drew a hostile response from the audience, as she criticized her own people for not standing up for themselves. She accused black men of being indifferent to African rights and liberty, claiming that they “lacked ambition and courage”. The audience’s negative reaction to her inflammatory rhetoric led to Maria’s formal retirement from public speaking at a farewell adddress in September of that year.

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