William Lloyd Garrison

William, but best known as Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), started his career and service as a fourteen year old boy, selling homemade molasses and wood to support his family. Garrison later began working as an apprentice compositor for a local paper and acquired the skills that would later allow him to write and publish articles nationally. In 1828, Garrison edited for the National Philanthropist, joined the Abolitionist movement, and by 1830 he completely rejected colonization. Garrison later began writing and reporting in his column the incidents of kidnapping, whippings, and even murders, which later placed him in jail. Garrison, on his own, started the anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator and co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Society, and began public speaking where he burned a copy of the Constitution on July 4 condemning slavery. After the abolition of slavery, Garrison continued activism and retired from writing publicly, but continued to write to his children until his final days.