EOTO 2: William Lloyd Garrison

     While preparing for EOTO 2 I wanted to capture a journalist who believed in making a change so strongly that they went to great lengths. It is important to me as a writer to spread the messages that are important to me. Typically when believing in something someone else may not believe in it as well. In order to make a change you must open the world to alternative ideas.

    William Lloyd Garrison did just that during his career in Journalism. When his reputation was on the line or he was getting too old to work and needed to turn to retirement he did not give up spreading his message and today he has an influence on journalists and the world around us.    Garrison had a successful career in journalism. In 128 he was an editor for both the National Philanthropist Newspaper in Boston and the Journal of the times in Bennington, Vermont. Both of these papers were dedicated to moral reform. In 1829 he edited the Genius of Universal Emancipation with Benjamin Lundy. And founded the Liberator in 1831 which became the most radical of the Anti-Slavery journals at the time. He made strides to enhance equality.

    William Lloyd Garrison was born on December 10, 1805 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. When Garrison was three-years-old his father, a merchant sailor, abandoned him and his siblings. His mother was a devoted Baptist and raised him in poverty. Due to his mother's religious beliefs, Garrison grew up surrounded by christianity and at age 8 he lived with a Baptist deacon. He worked as a shoemaker at the time however it was not his calling because of the physical labor involved. At 13 he was an apprentice for a printer and newspaper publisher and knew he had found his life's work.  At age 25 he then joined the abolitionist movement.

     Four years after the Liberators creation, Garrison renounced church and state to embrace the Doctrines of Christian "perfectionism". This combined abolition and women's rights through his writing. Between 1840 and the American Civil Was his strides against slavery increased. Garrison became so passionate about change that his influence in society went down. As less and less people stopped supporting him he only became more radical. 

    Because of his outlet of the Liberator Garrison was able to denounce The Compromise of 1850, the Kansas- Nebraska Act, and the Deed Scott Decision. He even supported Abraham Lincoln and welcomed the Emancipation Proclamation.

    Once Garrison retired he continued his work on equality and pressed for women's suffrage and free trade .

Russian author Leo Tolstoy was inspired by Garrison's writing along with Adin Ballou because of their focus on Christianity which aligned with Tolstroy's ideology. Tolstroy even went on to publish a short biography of Garrison in 1904. He even referenced Garrison within his own work.

Today, there is a memorial statue of Garrison in Boston. In 2005, Garrison's descendants gathered in Boston to honor his 200th birthday. Garrison continues to be a staple for journalists and making a change.