Seal of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society

The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was organized in 1833 by Quaker Abolitionist Lucretia Mott at 107 North 5th Street. From its inception, the Society was interracial and its members included African-American businessman James Forten's three daughters. The Society lobbied for the emancipation of enslaved blacks and supported the efforts of the Underground Railroad by providing housing, protection, and transportation to escaped slaves. During the Civil War, the Society supported the war effort and ultimately disbanded in 1870 following the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibited each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."