| Historic re-enactor Kim Hanley of the American Historical Theatre will speak as Lucretia Mott at Newtown Quaker Meeting adult class on Court Street on Sunday, September 18 at 9:45 a.m. All are welcome. |
Lucretia Mott was a Quaker born on Nantucket in 1793 who became an abolitionist, suffragist, Quaker Minister, anti-war activist, and a founder of Swarthmore College. In an age when most women were not expected to think about issues of the day, Lucretia Mott not only contemplated them, but also spoke out on them. A follower of Elias Hicks, she served as a Public Friend who emphasized the divinity within every individual.
Mott supported the Anti-Slavery movement. She was elected as an American Representative to the 1840 General (or World’s) Anti-Slavery Convention. Women were excluded from participating and were required to sit in a segregated area. Mott realized then that she must also muster her efforts towards women’s equality. In 1848, Lucretia Mott joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton to convene the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY.
Re-enactor Kim Hanley is an actor, singer, costumer and dancer, trained by the School of American Ballet. She has a BFA in Restoration and History of Applied Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY.
Hanley began interpreting historical women with American Historical Theatre in 1997. She has appeared at the White House Visitors Center, National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Frazier Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, Liberty Museum, and the Constitution Center, among others.
Kim’s other character portrayals include Quaker-raised Annie Oakley and Betsy Ross, in addition to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abigail Adams, Mary Young Pickersgill, Molly Pitcher, Allice Roosevelt Longworth, Alice Roosevelt’s maid Anna, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and Grace Coolidge.
Newtown Friends Meeting co-founded by “Peaceable Kingdom” painter and Quaker minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. Regular First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m.