Weston-Grimke Homesite

On a back lot near here once stood a small house where two remarkable brothers grew up. Archibald Grimke, born in eighteen forty-nine, and Francis Grimke, born in eighteen fifty, were the sons of Nancy Weston, an enslaved woman, and Henry Grimke, a white Charleston planter who was also their owner. They were nephews of the famous abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimke.

Born into slavery, the brothers lived a quasi free life in Charleston after their father's death, until the Civil War forced them back into bondage. Freed in eighteen sixty-five, they rose far. Archibald became a Harvard trained lawyer, journalist, and a leader of the early civil rights movement. Francis became a renowned Presbyterian minister in Washington. From this modest lot came two voices that helped shape African American activism.