circa 1872

Eliot, William Greenleaf, 1811-1887

Autograph note signed

Title: to Charles Sumner

Eliot, a social activist and clergyman, writes to Sumner, a United States Senator from Massachusetts (recipient inferred from collection). Encloses newspaper clippings asserting they prove the necessity of a civil rights bill. The first clipping, attached to the note, relates that Frederick Douglass was recently denied service at the Planters' House, a St. Louis, Missouri inn. The article notes, "This is the first difficulty of the kind he has received on his present lecture trip, and it is a shameful reflection on St. Louis' hospitality..." The other clipping offers a similar version of…

GLC07202.06