Francis James Grimké

He was regarded for more than half a century as one of the leading African-American clergy of his era[2] and was prominent in working for equal rights.

He was active in the Niagara Movement and helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

"[3] Henry's sister Eliza, executor of his will, brought the family to Charleston and allowed them to live as if they were free, but she did not aid them financially.

Nancy Weston took in laundry and did other work; when the boys were old enough, they attended a public school with free African Americans.

During the American Civil War, Francis ran off and became a valet for a Confederate Army officer stationed at Castle Pinckney, a jail for Union soldiers.

After the American Civil War ended, the three Grimké boys attended freedmen's schools, where the teachers recognized their talents.

The youngest brother, John Grimké, did not go to school and chose to stay in Charleston with their mother, Nancy Weston.

Among her acquaintances were many members of the national abolitionist movement, including William Lloyd Garrison, Sarah Parker Remond, John Whittier, and Wendell Phillips.

Francis began his ministry at the prominent 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Logan Circle, Washington, D.C., a major African-American congregation that was about 15 blocks due north of the White House.

Francis was a participant in the March 5, 1897, meeting to celebrate the memory of Frederick Douglass, which founded the American Negro Academy led by Alexander Crummell.

He played an active role among the scholars, editors, and activists of this first major African-American learned society, which refuted racist scholarship, promoted black claims to individual, social, and political equality, and studied the history and sociology of African-American life.