Early years Remond was born in
Salem, Massachusetts to John Remond, a free man of color from the island of
Curaçao, who was a hairdresser, and Nancy Lenox, daughter of a prominent Bostonian, a hairdresser and caterer. Massachusetts had effectively abolished slavery after the Revolution with its new constitution. The eldest son of eight children, Charles Remond began his activism in opposition to southern slavery early. His siblings included sisters Nancy, Cecilia, Maritchie Juan,
Caroline, and
Sarah Parker, and a younger brother John Remond. While in his twenties, Remond started speaking for abolition at public gatherings and conferences in
Massachusetts,
Rhode Island,
Maine, New York and
Pennsylvania.
Activism In 1838, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society chose him as one of its agents. As a delegate from the
American Anti-Slavery Society, in 1840 he traveled with
William Lloyd Garrison, a leading American abolitionist, to the
World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London. The young Remond gained a reputation as an eloquent lecturer and is reported to have been the first black public speaker on abolition. He was described as expressing himself with "militancy" and wit. Remond proposed resolution at the first national
Colored Convention in Philadelphia, PA (1830) calling for blacks to leave "
en masse" any church "that discriminated against them in seating or at the communion table." Their resolution was adopted. In 1840, when female delegates were denied seats at the
World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, Lenox and Garrison protested and walked out with the women. Remond eventually struck out on his own. After the Civil War ended, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a clerk in the United States Customs House. He also worked as a street lamp inspector. He later purchased a farm in South Reading (now
Wakefield), Massachusetts. ==Marriage and family==