Anna White

Anna White (21 January 1831 – 16 December 1910) was a Shaker Eldress, social reformer, author, and hymnwriter.

Biography

Anna White born on January 21, 1831, in Brooklyn, New York, the third daughter of five children of Robert and Hannah White (nee Gibbs). Her parents were both Quakers, her father having joined by marriage. One of her earliest memories was hearing anti-slavery lecturer Lucretia Mott speak, but she was disturbed when Mott was "abruptly silenced by the guardians of Quaker orthodoxy." She went to a Quaker school in Poughkeepsie, New York, called Mansion Square Seminary, and had a strong social conscience influenced by both her faith and her parents. Anna was the only member of the family to join her father in the religion, formally joining the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society's North Family at 18 years old in 1849. Joining the Shakers alienated both of them from the rest of the family, with a rich uncle even threatening to dis-inherent her of $40,000 if she went through with it. The book joined Shaker principles and socially progressive values such as women's equality.

White's final years were spent mostly within the community, although she traveled outside to attend meetings.

Selected works