Early years Jeremiah Sanderson was born on August 10, 1821, to Daniel Sanderson and Sarah Burke in New Bedford,
Bristol County, Massachusetts. His mother, Sarah, was part
Wampanoag, and Daniel was part
African American and part
Scottish. Daniel Sanderson left the family when Jeremiah was nine years old. Jeremiah Sanderson received a good education, and became an ardent student.
Influences The environment in which Sanderson grew up enabled him to become the powerful organizer and spokesperson that he became. During his early years, he watched African Americans vote, attended public schools, and was surrounded by the achievements of notable abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman and William Lloyd Garrison. Later in life he was strongly influenced by Frederick Douglass and William C. Nell as he worked closely with them.
Occupations In New Bedford, Sanderson worked weekdays as a
barber in downtown New Bedford. On Sundays, Sanderson would preach at the pulpit of local New Bedford religious societies, despite not being an ordained
minister at the time.
Activism Sanderson was elected secretary of the New Bedford Colored Citizens at only nineteen. In 1840 he met
William C. Nell and
Frederick Douglass, abolitionists from
Boston, Massachusetts. Sanderson became acquainted with both and continued to work with them throughout his life. Throughout the 1840s Sanderson traveled to various cities in
Massachusetts and
New York lecturing about the evils of slavery. One speech he gave in
Lynn, Massachusetts, was nearly published in the
New York Tribune. When Sanderson traveled to Lynn, Massachusetts to speak, he stayed with Frederick Douglass and his family. In 1841 Sanderson gave a speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society meeting that impressed many other well-known abolitionists including
Parker Pillsbury and Edward Quincy. In 1853 Sanderson was appointed as a delegate for the National Convention of Colored People, and in 1854 became a member of the State Council of Colored People of
Massachusetts. students with their teacher, Mary Sanderson in 1870 == Family ==