Helen Thoreau

Helen Louisa Thoreau (22 October 1812 – 14 June 1849) was an American teacher and abolitionist. Prominent in New England's anti-slavery circles, she was eulogized by William Lloyd Garrison after her death. She attended Concord Academy, studying English, Latin, painting, and piano. The same year, Helen probably secured Frederick Douglass to speak at a Concord anti-slavery meeting. In a 2001 paper, Sandra Petrulionis wrote that: In Concord, a mecca of transcendentalism, abolitionism was predominantly women's work. For decades, Concord women sponsored speakers, disseminated periodicals and other propaganda, circulated and signed petitions, raised money, [and] traveled to national conventions... t was largely through these outspoken women sharing their homes that Concord's famous men came to accept leading roles in the fight against slavery.