Benjamin Lundy

Benjamin Lundy 1789-1839, American abolitionist, b. Sussex co., N.J., of Quaker parentage. A pioneer in the antislavery movement, Lundy founded (1815) the Union Humane Society while operating a saddlery in Ohio. He soon began to devote his efforts full time to the abolitionist cause by founding (1819) the antislavery periodical Philanthropist. In 1821 he began publishing the better-known Genius of Universal Emancipation. William Lloyd Garrison became associate editor of the Genius in 1829, but Lundy's belief in forming colonies abroad for freed slaves led the two to part. The Genius ceased publication in 1835, and in 1836, at Philadelphia, Lundy founded the National Enquirer, edited after 1838 by John Greenleaf Whittier as the Pennsylvania Freeman.

Bibliography: See T. Earle, ed., The Life, Travels and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy (1847, repr. 1971).

Lundy, Benjamin (1789–1839), Quaker Abolitionist, in Ohio established (1815) the Union Humane Society, and there began to publish The Genius of Universal Emancipation (1821–35, 1838–39), a journal that appeared irregularly from the editor's various temporary residences in Tennessee, Maryland, and other states. Garrison was an associate editor during 1829, but, because his articles were too vitriolic, Lundy soon broke with him. From 1825 to 1835 Lundy also made journeys to Haiti, Canada, and Texas, searching for suitable places to colonize freed blacks. The War in Texas (1836) exposes the plot to wrest Texas from Mexico as a slaveholders' scheme. In 1836 he founded The National Enquirer and Constitutional Advocate of Universal Liberty, which in 1838 was taken over and edited for two years by Whittier. The latter changed its name to The Pennsylvania Freeman, and secured important contributions from Lowell. Lundy thereupon reestablished The Genius, issuing 12 further numbers before his death.