Abigail Hopper Gibbons

Who was Abigail Hopper Gibbons?

Abigail Hopper Gibbons, was an American abolitionist, schoolteacher, and social welfare activist. She assisted in founding and led several nationally known societies for social reform during and following the Civil War.

She grew up in Philadelphia in a Quaker family; her father, Isaac Hopper, opposed slavery and aided fugitive slaves. She grew to share her father's beliefs and spent much of her life working for social reform in several fields. In 1841, the New York Monthly Meeting disowned Gibbons' father and husband for their anti-slavery writing. Abigail Gibbons resigned the following year, also removing her minor children.

Gibbons was prominent during and after the American Civil War, when her work in Philadelphia, Washington, DC and New York City included civil rights and education for blacks, prison reform for women, medical care for Union officers during the war, aid to veterans returning from the war, to help them find work; and welfare. Because she was a known abolitionist, her house was attacked and destroyed during the Draft Riots of July 1863 in New York.