February 8, 1759(1759-02-08) (aged 77) Abington, Pennsylvania, British America
Occupation
Sailor, merchant, farmer
Spouse
Sarah Smith
(m. 1718; died 1735)
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Official name
Benjamin Lay (1682–1759)
Designated
September 22, 2018
Benjamin Lay (January 26, 1682 – February 8, 1759) was an English-born writer, farmer and activist. Born in Copford, Essex into a Quaker family, he initially underwent an apprenticeship as a glovemaker before running away to London and finding work as a sailor. In 1718, Lay moved to the British colony of Barbados, which operated on a plantation economy dependent on slave labour. While working as a merchant, his shock at the brutal treatment of slaves in Barbados led Lay to develop lifelong abolitionist principles, which were reinforced by his humanitarian ideals and Quaker beliefs.
Lay subsequently moved to the Province of Pennsylvania in British North America, living in Philadelphia before settling in Abington with his wife Sarah Smith Lay, who was also a Quaker and shared his humanitarian and abolitionist beliefs. Operating a small farm which produced fruit, flax and wool, he refused to consume any product made from slave labour and lived a frugal, vegetarian lifestyle, which continued after Sarah died in 1735. A hunchback with a protruding chest, Lay was roughly four feet tall, and referred to himself as "Little Benjamin".
Lay was also a prolific writer, writing several pamphlets and books which advocated for the abolition of slavery and animal rights. His 1737 book All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage: Apostates was one of the first abolitionist works published in the Thirteen Colonies. Lay developed a hostile relationship with American Quakers, many of whom owned slaves. He would frequently disrupt Quaker meetings with flamboyant demonstrations to protest against their involvement in slavery. Lay died in early 1759, and his anti-slavery views would go on to inspire succesive American abolitionists.[1][2]
^"All slave-keepers that keep the innocent in bondage : apostates pretending to lay claim to the pure & holy Christian religion, of what congregation so ever, but especially in their ministers, by whose example the filthy leprosy and apostacy is spread far and near : it is a notorious sin which many of the true Friends of Christ and his pure truth, called Quakers, has been for many years and still are concern'd to write and bear testimony against as a practice so gross & hurtful to religion, and destructive to government beyond what words can set forth, or can be declared of by men or angels, and yet lived in by ministers and magistrates in America". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
^Rediker, Marcus (August 12, 2017). "You'll Never Be as Radical as This 18th-Century Quaker Dwarf". The New York Times.
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