Francis James Grimké

Francis James Grimké (November 4, 1852 – October 11, 1937) was a Presbyterian minister that was also active in the Niagara Movement and the NAACP.

Grimké was the second of three sons born to Henry Grimké and his slave, a woman named Nancy Weston. Henry Grimké was the brother of Sarah and Angelina Grimke who were abolitionists. Grimké's other brothers were named Archibald and John.

Grimké graduated from Lincoln University, PA in 1870, along with his older brother Archibald, who was also a member of the class of 1870.

In December 1878, Grimké married abolitionist and diarist Charlotte Forten. She was 41 at the time and he was about 13 years her junior. In 1880, they had one daughter, Theodora Cornelia, who died as an infant.

Grimké's elder brother, Archibald Grimké, served as consul to the Dominican Republic from 1894-1898. Archibald's daughter, Angelina Weld Grimke, became a prominent writer and abolitionist in her own right. She stayed with Grimké and his wife during the period of her father's service to the Dominican Republic.

Grimké began his ministry at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and except for a brief sojourn to preach at a church in Jacksonville, Florida, he would remain at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. until 1928. Grimké died in 1937. Had his wife lived, she would have been 100 that year.

An enduring quote from him goes: "Race prejudice can't be talked down, it must be lived down."

External links

* [http://www.usca.edu/aasc/grimke.htm The University of South Carolina-Aiken Profile of Archibald Grimke]
* [http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1210/ Entry at The African American Registry]
* [http://creativequotations.com/one/2246.htm Quotes]
* [http://www.westminster-stl.org/Sermons/050220.htm A Biographical Sermon]