In this episode of The Abolitionists, let's explore the extraordinary life and mind of Benjamin Lay, the early 18th century Quaker dwarf who has the distinction of being both the first revolutionary abolitionist and the first animal rights activist in American history. Learn more about Pro-Animal Future's mission to end the worst forms of animal cruelty in our society ► https://proanimal.org/ All ad revenue this video makes in its first month will go to Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary, a forever home for animals rescued from the meat industry ► https://luvinarms.org/ Support Atun-Shei Films on Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/atunsheifilms Leave a Tip via Paypal ► https://www.paypal.me/atunsheifilms Buy Merch ► https://teespring.com/stores/atun-shei-films Official Website ► https://www.atunsheifilms.com/ Original Music by Dillon DeRosa ► http://dillonderosa.com/ Thumbnail art by Ben Wickey ► https://www.instagram.com/ben_wickey/ ~REFERENCES~ [1] Marcus Rediker. The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist (2017). Beacon Press, Page 11-25 [2] Benjamin Lay. All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates (1738). Printed [by Benjamin Franklin] for the Author, Page iii [3] Lay, Page 131-132 [4] Lay, Page 55 [5] Rediker, Page 111 [6] Rediker, Page 30-51 [7] Lay, Page 32-45 [8] Lay, Page 20-22 [9] Rediker, Page 61-70 [10] Rediker, Page 84-93 [11] Lay, Page 43-44 [12] Rediker, Page 146 [13] Rediker, Page 1-2 [14] The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal. Volume XXIX (1856). Printed by Robb, Pile & Melroy, Page 220 [15] Rediker, Page 112-116 [16] Roger Crab. The English Hermit or Wonder of This Age (1655). Printed in Pope’s Head Alley and at the Exchange, Page i-15 [17] Thomas Tryon. A Way to Health, Long Life, and Happiness (1691 Edition). Printed by H.C. for R. Baldwin near the Oxford Arms on Warwick Lane, Page 367-382 [18] Avery Yale Kamila. “Vegan Kitchen: Americans have been enjoying nut milk and nut butter for at least 4 centuries” (2020). Portland Press Herald https://www.pressherald.com/2020/11/08/vegan-kitchen-americans-have-been-enjoying-nut-milk-and-nut-butter-for-at-least-4-centuries/ [19] Geoffrey Plank. “‘The Flame of Life Was Kindled in All Animal and Sensitive Creatures’: One Quaker Colonist’s View of Animal Life.” Church History 76, no. 3 (2007): 569–90. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27645034. [20] Jonathan D. Sassi. “With a Little Help from the Friends: The Quaker and Tactical Contexts of Anthony Benezet’s Abolitionist Publishing.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 135, no. 1 (2011): 33–71. https://doi.org/10.5215/pennmaghistbio.135.1.0033 [21] Rediker, Page 120, 138

Benjamin Lay would not break bread with a slaver, and he would flat out leave and never speak with them again.

Lay invited a married couple’s son to his home, making them panic all day of their missing child, and then revealed to them the boy is safe, but this is the experience of their young Black girl slave’s parents from having their daughter stolen and enslaved.

Lay protested in September 1738 at the Quaker Meeting House of Burlington, New Jersey, during the Philadelphia area’s biggest Quaker annual meeting event, throwing off his coat, revealing a military uniform and a large, gleaming sword. This was a drastic statement in an event filled with absolute pacifist Quakers. Lay decried the evils of slavery and hypocrisy of the audience who practiced it. Lay produced a thick book, inside of which was hidden a bladder filled with red dye made from pokeberry juice. With a dramatic flourish, he impaled the book with the sword, and fake blood ran down his arm, which he spurted on the slave keepers all around him. Outrage and clamor filled the meeting house, and several men grabbed Lay and carried him bodily from the building.

A year before Lay’s death, a resolution was passed in the Philadelphia yearly meeting that would discipline and eventually disown slave owners from membership in the Society of Friends. Lay was able to pass away in peace knowing the seeds of the political movement he pushed, almost alone for his entire life while he was mocked and ridiculed, bore fruit.

Be like Lay, even if revolutionary change doesn’t come within your lifetime. Be the one to sow the seeds of the death of bourgeois society. Be militant. ✊