Four Feet Tall and Fearless: The Tale of History's Forgotten and Eccentric Revolutionary American Abolitionist Benjamin Lay
On September 19, 1738 a four foot tall man strode into the Burlington, New Jersey Quaker meeting house with a purpose. The Quaker meeting house in Burlington was the largest building between there and Philadelphia, and on this day when the little man with the big ambition walked in, the meeting house was packed with hundreds of the most influential men and women--a veritable who’s who of Quaker religious and secular leadership, in the colonies of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The diminutive man was a well known local eccentric named Benjamin Lay. Some people, those of a more religious bent among the Quaker faithful, claimed that Benjamin Lay was a prophet like a modern day eighteenth century John the Baptist. Others among the Quaker faithful, probably the majority, thought Benjamin Lay was nothing more than a local crackpot who was best to be avoided. For his part, Benjamin Lay didn’t care what anyone thought--he was on a mission to abolish slavery on this Septe...