Lucretia Mott: Revolutionary Voice for Women's Rights & Abolition

To commemorate the 105th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will kick off its next monthly meeting on Wednesday, August 13 at 7 pm with a presentation on Lucretia Coffin Mott by Kim Hanley, historian and first person interpreter. A Quaker minister and tireless reformer, Mott was a leading voice in both the women's rights and abolition movements. She helped found the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, co-organized the historic 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, and advocated the use of Free Produce.

She was elected as an American Representative to the 1840 General (or World’s) Anti-Slavery Convention. When women were excluded from participating and were required to sit in a segregated area, Mott realized that she must also muster her efforts towards women’s equality. Mott joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton in calling together the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY. Though she didn't live to see women gain the right to vote, Mott's legacy as a champion of equality influenced generations of activists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

While an anti-war activist, Mott did support Camp William Penn (which was associated with her family through her son-in-law) insofar as she visited the soldiers, spoke to them, brought care packages, etc. It was probably a source of inner conflict for her, for herself she could never accept engaging in armed combat as a means to a solution. Yet, she certainly understood that others did not necessarily hold her Quaker understanding of pacifism, and she had to accept her personal sorrow that the soldiers there were so downtrodden that they felt they had no other recourse and were led to fight for their own liberty. She never gave up hope for a world free from the sins of both slavery and war, and never ceased her efforts to help others see that truth.

The words and lessons of Lucretia Mott continue to open minds and hearts to a simple truth: If we embrace the inner light within ourselves, we fan the flame in others, and in time mankind will come to the full understanding that all people are created divine and equal.

Kim Hanley's academic training includes a BFA in Restoration and History of Applied Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Kim is an actor, singer, costumer, and dancer who trained and performed from an early age with the School of American Ballet and the Eglevsky Ballet in New York, as well as with the visiting Bolshoi Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet. Kim is also an accomplished costumer whose specialty is historical fashion. She has costumed for many of the nation’s top historical interpreters and historical sites such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon. On a lighter note, she includes among her “bigger” clients The Philly Phanatic.

Kim began interpreting Abigail Adams with American Historical Theatre (AHT) in 1997. She has appeared in the White House Visitors Center, National Archives in Washington, DC and NYC, National Portrait Gallery, Fraunces Tavern Museum at Trinity Church in NYC, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, National Constitution Center, Independence Visitors Center, Museum of the American Revolution, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Durham Museum, Mount Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Delaware Humanities Forum Chautauqua, and many other historical and educational institutions throughout New Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia area.
In addition to Lucretia Mott, Kim’s character portrayals include: Abigail Adams, Annie Oakley, Mary Young Pickersgill, Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hayes McCauley), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Alice Roosevelt’s maid Anna, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and Grace Coolidge.

The meeting will be in-person at Philly's Gourmet Steaks, 114 Market Street, upstairs, and livestreamed on Zoom. Come early for dinner and drinks! The Zoom link will be available in the APT Tour Talk newsletter the week of the meeting; non-members should contact Marianne Ruane [president@phillyguides.org](mailto:president@phillyguides.org) no later than 5 pm the day of the meeting to receive the link.