John Woolman

John Woolman 1720-1722 was a prominent American Quaker and abolitionist, and the author of a classic Journal.

Life
Woolman was born into a Quaker family in New Jersey in 1720. Around the age of 22 he was apprenticed as a tailor and was soon after recognised as a minister in the (unpaid) Quaker form. He started on a series of journeys, both to Quaker meetings and to others, including Native Americans. In 1746 he set up as a tailor, but in 1756 deliberately reduced his commercial undertakings for religious reasons.

In 1754 he published Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, which was extensively quoted by Anthony Benezet whose pamphlets reached a wider audience. In 1758 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, as a Quaker decision-making body, urged Quakers to free their slaves. Woolman followed this up with gently confrontative visits to Quaker slaveholders, and Considerations on Keeping Negroes: Part Second. Meanwhile he had also, with other Quakers, come out strongly in defence of the pacifist position.

In 1772 he sailed to England, where he attended the London Yearly Meeting, but died of smallpox. His Journal was published in 1774.

Journal
The Journal is regarded as a classic work of Quaker and American literature, noted for the directness and appeal of its style, and for the strength with which his spiritual experience is conveyed. It had an impact on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Dreiser among others.