Figuring Out Free Cotton
Pauline Male, Collections & Loan Coordinator
Overview
What kind of work goes into the creation of a piece of clothing, and where does the material for that clothing come from? These are just a few questions that many who are interested in consuming products that are not created in sweatshops or by using unsustainable materials have been asking lately. While the movement of “ethical” fashion has been picking up steam over the past few years, the points that are made by contemporary activists are not unique to the 21st century. For many U.S. and U.K. based Quakers in the early 19th century, this question was the central focus of an important protest movement that aimed to distribute products that were completely free of the labor of enslaved people. The movement, commonly referred to as the Free Labor or Free Cotton movement, was an extension of the larger abolitionist efforts in the U.S and was a critical part of abolitionist practice for groups such as the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.
However important the Free Produce movement may have been to Quakers, especially Quaker women, evidence of the actual free products is scarce. At the Atwater Kent, we are fortunate to have not only an example of a piece of clothing that was made with Free Cotton, but also a handful of objects that were likely made with fabric purchased at a Free Produce store. Additionally, there is a receipt from a Free Produce warehouse with details of not only the purchase but also the mission of the store, which is a unique and illustrative artifact that demonstrates some limits and strengths of the movement in action.
Abolitionists and Free Cotton
Quakers have been described as pioneers in social change who have a long history of protesting to stay true to their peace testimony, one of the founding tenets outlined in the Quaker Declaration, which was published in 1660.[1] This has manifested in many different forms of civil disobedience, from conscientiously objecting to the Revolutionary War effort to sending aid to North Vietnam in the 1960’s. During the antebellum years, in conjunction with the larger abolitionist movement, many Quakers partook in a boycott of goods from plantations that used slave labor. Originating in the U.K. in the early 1800’s, the Free Produce movement made its way over to the U.S. in the 1820’s, where Thomas M’Clintock founded the Free Produce Society in Philadelphia in 1827.[2] The idea was that if consumers were discouraged from purchasing slave-made commodities, it would impact the bottom line of plantation owners. As Quaker poet Elizabeth Margaret Chandler bluntly put it “without the consumers of slave produce, there would be no slaves.”[3] Other notable Quakers supported the boycott for these reasons, including the reformer Elias Hicks, who stated that “slavery was principally supported by the purchasers and consumers of the produce of slave labor.”[4] For progressive or socially-conscious Quakers, choosing not to partake in the global market for goods produced by slave labor was an incredibly important one on both a systemic and personal level.
Though the overarching goal of the Free Cotton movement, which was to divert business from slave-holding sources of materials, was a lofty one, abolitionists in England and in the U.S. remained dedicated to the cause through the latter half of the 19th century when slavery was finally abolished in the United States.
The Objects
Within the Friends Historical Association collection at the Atwater Kent, there is one item that has a direct connection to the Free Cotton movement. This item, a small pinafore meant for a child, was hand sewn using a cream colored or undyed cotton fabric with a plaid weave. It is distinct not because of the sewing or the pleating techniques used, but because of two tags attached to it; a price tag valuing the pinafore at 12 cents and a paper tag that clearly states “Free Labor Cotton.” The price tag and the “Free Cotton” label are crucial evidence of the presence of Free Produce stores in Philadelphia. Another important aspect of the pinafore is the makeup of the fabric itself. It was common for skeins of fabric to be purchased from Free Labor or Free Produce stores and then used by individual women to sew their own garments and household textiles. The weave of the fabric of the pinafore is a very distinct plaid style, which is found in a small number of other cotton garments in the FHA collection.
This plaid pattern appears to have been used for the following items in the FHA collection: an oblong apron, an undersleeve with an eyelet trim, and a small fragment of fabric. The record for the fabric fragment includes a typed note from the donor: “These pieces were made by free labor, as Grandfather would not have anything that was made by slave labor.” The note is signed by donor Olivia Pennock Laird, and it is clear from her account that the Free Labor movement was very important to her grandfather. The oblong apron, which sports a blue contrasting hem and two blue bows at the top, is also made with a fabric that has a similar grid weave to that of the Free Cotton pinafore. A note in the accession file identifies the apron as “made by Anna K. Lowry for her groomsman, Joseph K. Evans, to wear while waiting on table at the wedding of Wm. Evans & Elizabeth Evans at Marlton, New Jersey 1868.” Finally, the two long undersleeves with eyelet trim do not have any identifying notes or features, aside from the plaid weave of the fabric.
Perhaps the most interesting Free Cotton related object is an item that is not in the FHA collection: a receipt for goods purchased at a Free Produce store located in Philadelphia. This receipt, from the Free Labor Ware-House of George W. Taylor, is for a number of produce items, not any cotton or textiles. Clearly printed on the receipt is the mission of George W. Taylor’s Free Labor Ware-House :
“G. W. T. manufactures his Cotton Goods from Material procured directly from those Growers, who neither own nor hire Slaves; and he takes special care to insure all the articles he sells in the Grocery line, are also produced exclusively by the labor of FREE PERSONS.”
Specifically, the receipt records the purchase of sweets: sugars, mixed candy, chocolate, and cocoa. These items were also important commodities for the larger Free Labor movement. Sugar was often the focus of boycotts, especially in the UK, due to the awful labor conditions of slave workers working under major sugar producers like the East India Company. Proprietors like Taylor wanted to be able to give consumers the opportunity to purchase commodities that were not tainted by the stain of slave labor. Despite difficulties such as low supply and high prices, both stores and consumers endured, ultimately playing a small role in the much larger movement towards abolishing slavery in the States.
Works Cited
“Friends Peace Testimony.” A Declaration from the harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://quaker.org/legacy/minnfm/peace/.
Yellin, Jean Fagan, and John C. Van Horne, eds. The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women’s Political Culture in Antebellum America. Cornell University Press, 1994. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv1nhkdd.
Kett, Anna Vaughan. “‘Without the Consumers of Slave Produce There Would Be No Slaves’: Quaker Women, Antislavery Activism, and Free-Labor Cotton Dress in the 1850s.” In Quakers and Abolition, edited by Brycchan Carey and Geoffrey Plank, 56–72. University of Illinois Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt7zw60d.8.
“Organizations.” Bryn Mawr Library. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/quakersandslavery/commentary/organizations/.
Bacon, Margaret Hope. “By Moral Force Alone: The Antislavery Women and Nonresistance.” In The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women’s Political Culture in Antebellum America, edited by Jean Fagan Yellin and John C. Van Horne, 275–98. Cornell University Press, 1994. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv1nhkdd.20.
Footnotes
[1] “Friends Peace Testimony,” A Declaration from the harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers, accessed June 7, 2024, https://quaker.org/legacy/minnfm/peace/.
[2] “Organizations.” Bryn Mawr Library. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/quakersandslavery/commentary/organizations/.
[3] Kett, Anna Vaughan. “‘Without the Consumers of Slave Produce There Would Be No Slaves’: Quaker Women, Antislavery Activism, and Free-Labor Cotton Dress in the 1850s.” In Quakers and Abolition, p. 56. University of Illinois Press, 2014.
[4] Bacon, Margaret Hope. “By Moral Force Alone: The Antislavery Women and Nonresistance.” In The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women’s Political Culture in Antebellum America, p. 277, Cornell University Press, 1994.