Wendell Phillips

Biography

Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) was an American abolitionist, orator, and social reformer who became one of the most prominent voices against slavery in the antebellum United States. Born into a wealthy Boston family, Phillips abandoned his legal career to dedicate himself to the abolitionist movement, earning recognition as a powerful public speaker whose eloquent arguments against slavery influenced both Northern public opinion and political discourse. Beyond abolition, Phillips championed women's rights, Native American rights, and labor reform, making him a central figure in American progressive movements of the nineteenth century.