Hetty Reckless
| Hetty Reckless | |
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"Am I not a woman and a sister?" – the seal of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, of which Reckless was a founder member.
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| Born |
Amy Hester Boadley 1776 Salem, New Jersey |
| Died | January 28, 1881 Philadelphia |
| Organization |
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| Known for | Campaigning against slavery and vice |
Amy Hester "Hetty" Reckless (1776 – January 28, 1881) was a runaway slave who became part of the American abolitionist movement. She campaigned against slavery and was part of the Underground Railroad, operating a Philadelphia safe house. She fought against prostitution and vice, working toward improving education and skills for the black community. Through efforts including operating a women's shelter, supporting Sunday Schools and attending conferences, she became a leader in the abolitionist community. After her former master's death, she returned to New Jersey and continued working to assist escaping slaves throughout the Civil War.
Amy Hester "Hetty" Reckless was born into slavery in Salem, New Jersey, in 1776, the daughter of Dorcas Boadley, who belonged to the wealthy Johnson family who lived in Johnson Hall. Initially, Reckless was the property of Jane Gibson Johnson and when she died became her son's chattel. When Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson – renowned for his eating of tomatoes in an era when they were thought to be poisonous – married for the second time, his wife Julianna mistreated Reckless. Fleeing to Philadelphia in 1826 with her daughter, Reckless sought help from the Abolition Society claiming at first that she had been emancipated by her previous owner. She recounted that she boarded a stagecoach like any other passenger and rode without question from Salem to Philadelphia, resolved not to return because Johnson's wife had knocked out her front teeth with a broomstick and yanked out tufts of her hair. She also was aggrieved because Johnson's mother had promised her she would receive her freedom, but when the Colonel inherited Reckless, he refused. Colonel Johnson tried to reclaim her as his slave, promising to set her free if she would return and give him her daughter. Reckless refused and did not return to Salem until after Johnson's death in 1850.
In Philadelphia, Reckless lived with Samuel and Eliza Clement, who were related to the Goodwins, the Quaker sisters who were pioneers of the Underground Railroad. Introduced to this circle, in 1833, Reckless became a founding member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), along with Grace Bustill Douglass, Sarah Mapps Douglass, and Charlotte Forten Grimké with her daughters. Her cherished possessions included a photograph of the members of the PFASS and a flag with anti-slavery inscriptions. The PFASS was a racially integrated organization, but Reckless also worked with the predominantly-black Female Vigilant Association, which formed in 1838. This group was an auxiliary of the male Vigilant Association of Philadelphia, to which Reckless was appointed a full member in 1843. Of the fifteen committee members appointed to replace the previous board, Reckless served with the male appointees. Reckless liaised between these organizations for whom she was an enthusiastic and energetic campaigner. September 1841 minutes of the PFASS show Reckless reported that the Vigilance Committee had saved 35 slaves in a single month and recorded her plea for additional funds of support. Four years later she again was pleading for funds to assist fugitive slaves.
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