Stephen Symonds Foster (November 17, 1809 – September 13, 1881) was a radical American abolitionist known for his dramatic and aggressive style of public speaking, and for his stance against those in the church who failed to fight slavery.
Foster wrote anti-slavery tracts and published in 1843 a widely discussed book that met with protest and critical response: The Brotherhood of Thieves; or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket.
At Liberty Farm where they lived, Foster and his wife formed a link on the Underground Railroad, and helped fugitive slaves reach Canada and freedom.
Foster embraced abolitionism at this time, and in his third year invited Angelina Grimké to speak to the Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society.
His friends raised bail after two weeks, but Foster's letter aroused indignation among citizens who later cleaned out the jail and then passed a law which banned imprisonment for debt.
Pro-slavery supporters wished to prevent Foster and the radical abolitionist John Murray Spear from speaking.
[4] In 1843, he wrote the book The Brotherhood of Thieves; or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket and in 1844 Foster's fellow abolitionist Parker Pillsbury published it through the Boston Anti-Slavery Office.
The phrase was derived from the Bible verse II Corinthians 6:17, which reads "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
"[9] At the eclectic Free Convention in Rutland, Vermont, in June 1858, Foster spoke after Pillsbury to say "any law, constitution, court, or government, any church, priesthood, creed, or Bible, any Christ, or any God, that, by silence or otherwise, authorizes man to enslave man, merits the scorn and contempt of mankind.
"[10] In 1845, after a four-year courtship, Foster married Abby Kelley, a more famous social activist and a dynamic speaker who had occasionally joined with him on the abolitionist lecture circuit.
Afterward, Abby met with ten others, including Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriot Kezia Hunt, Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, and Lucy Stone, to help plan for a women's rights convention.
[15] Henry Brown Blackwell tried to calm the waters by saying that all present, including Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, believed in "negro suffrage".
[17] A memorial service was held at the Worcester Horticultural Hall on September 24, with Reverend Samuel May, Jr., of Leicester, Massachusetts, presiding.
Tributes to Foster's life and works were presented by Lucy Stone, Wendell Phillips, Reverend Henry T. Cheever, and Parker Pillsbury.