Laura Smith Haviland

Overview

Laura Smith Haviland born Kitley Township, Ontario, Canada December 20, 1808 (d. 1898). American Quaker abolitionist and suffragist. Co-founded Michigan's first abolition organization, the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1832. Founded Michigan's first integrated school, the Raisin Institute, 1837. She and her husband turned their home into Michigan's first Underground Railroad station. Because of her aggressive abolitionist activity, a slave owner placed a $3000 bounty on her head, 1847. Left the Quaker community over her radical nonresistant abolitionism.

Quotations

“Man, I fear neither your weapons nor your threats; they are powerless.” (threatened at gunpoint by slave catchers, in A Woman’s Life Work, 1881, p. 76; photo Wikipedia)