Beginning Her Freedmen Work
In 1842, the Griffings relocated from Connecticut to Litchfield, Ohio. It was here that they became actively involved in the antislavery movement, her home being one of the stops of the Underground Railroad.
Around 1850, Griffing became a lecturer for the antislavery movement in the states of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. In addition to her lectures, she also wrote articles, mainly for the Anti-Slavery Bugle.
Griffing and her three daughters moved to Washington, D.C. in 1862, while her husband remained in Ohio. In Washington, D.C., Griffing and daughters worked with those slaves who had been freed during the war. These freed slaves were coming in large amounts to Washington with no jobs, homes, or education. Griffing moved here with an organized plan to change this, gaining support from President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Stanton along the way.
She was also a member of the National Freemen’s Relief Association of the District of Columbia and was an active supporter of the Freedmen’s Bureau bill. She worked on a bill for the emancipation of slaves in 1863, and this bill was finally passed in 1865 by the United States House of Representatives. Griffing was promoted to the assistant of the assistant commissioner for the District of Columbia in June 1865, only to have her position revoked five months later (November 1865) because of her public speeches in the North. Her speeches concentrated on topics such as raising funds and raising awareness of the impoverished freed slaves in Washington, D.C. at this time.
Even with this setback, Griffing continued to help better the lives of the freed slaves. Besides handing out rations, fuel, and clothing, she also established and ran an industrial school for those freed women slaves, who would be given clothes upon completing school. Griffing helped to improve the conditions of numerous slaves during her time in Washington. On government expense, freed men and women were sent to the North, including Providence, Rhode Island. By using her contacts in the North, Griffing helped in relocating women to the North with jobs and homes. She sometimes was assisted by Sojourner Truth. Years later, she was again rehired by the Freedmen’s Bureau but her relationship with them was strained.
Read more about this topic: Josephine Sophia White Griffing
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