Here's a bit about him. By today's standards he probably would not be considered a racist (for example he was OK with interracial marriage) - unlike most other abolitionists and Abraham Lincoln who would be.
For the entire generation of people that grew up in the years that led to the Civil War, William Lloyd Garrison was the voice of Abolitionism. Originally a supporter of colonization, Garrison changed his position and became the leader of the emerging anti-slavery movement. His publication, The Liberator, reached thousands of individuals worldwide. His ceaseless, uncompromising position on the moral outrage that was slavery made him loved and hated by many Americans.
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