orig. Abigail Kelley
born Jan. 15, 1810, Pelham, Mass., U.S.
died Jan. 14, 1887, Worcester, Mass.
U.S. abolitionist.
She became active in a branch of the Female Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s, and in 1838 she helped William Lloyd Garrison organize the New England Non-Resistance Society. Her long career as a political lecturer brought her national fame and notoriety, in part because she addressed mixed audiences (of both men and women). In 1845 she married Stephen S. Foster (180981), a prominent abolitionist who joined her lecture tour. In the 1850s she added temperance and women's rights to her lecture topics.