Sara G. Stanley

Sara Griffith Stanley Woodward (1837 – 1918) was an African American abolitionist, missionary teacher, and published author. Sara, sometimes listed as "Sarah", came from a biracial family, of which both black and white sides owned slaves. Despite this fact, she spent most of her working life promoting freedom and civil rights for African Americans. Her family's affluence enabled her to obtain a diploma in "Ladies Courses" from Oberlin College, the first college in the United States to admit African Americans beginning in 1835. She wrote and published several abolitionist works in journal magazines, but her most famous writing was an address on behalf of the Delaware Ladies' Antislavery Society given at the State Convention of Colored Men during the 1856 election year. After the American Civil War, she spent several years working as a teacher for the American Missionary Association, working in the North and in the South educating African American children.

Early life and education The house of John Wright Stanly. The Stanly family, both black and white, were founders of New Bern, N.C. Stanley was born in 1837 to a family of free blacks in New Bern, N.C. She was one of six children born to Frances "Fannie" Griffith and John Stewart Stanley. Her father, who added the "e" back to his last name, was the son of former slave and wealthy plantation owner John Carruthers Stanly and the grandson of white trader and privateer John Wright Stanly, who had originally dropped the "e" in his family name. Coming from a respected and well-known family allowed the Stanleys to open a school for black children in New Bern. When he wasn't helping his father with his businesses and plantation, John and his wife Fannie were teachers at their school, thus allowing Sara to lead an academic centered life from a young age.

As a child, Stanley attended the First Presbyterian Church and sat in one of the back two pews that were purchased by her grandfather John Carruthers Stanly. In New Bern, it was not uncommon to see black and whites worshiping together, because during this time in North Carolina it was illegal for blacks to have their own churches.

At age sixteen, Stanley was sent by her mother to attend Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. She studied "Ladies Courses" for three years and earned a diploma that qualified her to teach.

The slave uprising in South Carolina blamed on Denmark Vesey in 1822 resulted in increased legal restrictions on free black people in North Carolina. The heightened racial tensions resulting from resentment toward free blacks and the increased restrictions led Stanley's father and others to close schools for children of color. Afterwards, he moved his family to Delaware, Ohio, in the mid-1850s. Since women were not allowed inside, her petition was read aloud by delegate William Harris. It was titled: "To the Convention of Disenfranchised Citizens of Ohio".

There is some confusion regarding Stanley's authorship of this petition, as it is attributed to a "Sara G. Staley," not "Stanley." However, Ellen NicKenzie Lawson argued in her book that "the petition has all the earmarks of Stanley's literary style, so it seems likely the typesetter misprinted her last name leaving out the "n".

Educator of freed people In March 1864, during the American Civil War, Stanley joined the Protestant American Missionary Association as a teacher for black children in the South. By May, Stanley was sent to Norfolk, Virginia for her first teaching assignment at the Bute Street School, where she taught African American students who had been recently emancipated from slavery.

The war caused several problems for the school due to the constant military presence, the comings and goings of missionary staff unable to deal with the difficulties of the school's conditions, and serious bouts of sickness that would spread throughout the mission.

Family life While on assignment for AMA in Alabama, 1868, Stanley met Charles A. Woodward, a white man who had served in the Union army during the Civil War. There is historical disagreement over whether or not the AMA supported Stanley's engagement to Woodward, but what is clear is the AMA feared retaliation from the local Ku Klux Klan.

Little is known about her later life, but according to the 1910 Census, Sara was again living in Cumberland County in New Jersey. It lists that she had 3 children, but 0 living. Sara Griffith Stanley Woodward died in 1918 at the age of 82. Her resting place is unknown.