1810 – Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A strong feminist, she wrote her pioneering feminist tract, “Women in the Nineteenth Century,” in 1845. She was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Ripley; contributed poetry and reviews to and edited the Transcendentalist journal The Dial; and became a literary critic for the … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 23

1772 – Raja Rammohun Roy was born in Bengal, India. He became one of India’s most talented linguists, philosophers, and social and religious reformers. He admired the teaching of Jesus. He founded the Brahmo Samaj (“The Society of Brahma”), which adapted Unitarian principles to Hinduism. He worked for reformation of the caste system and women’s … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 22

1944 – Franklin Chester Southworth, who served churches in Duluth Minnesota and Chicago Illinois, died on this day. He was president of Meadville Theological School, then in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Southworth was one of the first seminary presidents to realize the need to associate with a university. He worked for years to move the college to … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 21

1618 – Some 459 Socinians known as the Polish Brethren held a Synod at Rakow, Poland, the largest such gathering of its time. It settled differences on doctrines such as infant baptism, the nature of Christ, and Christ’s relation to God. The post May 20 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 20

1841 – Theodore Parker preached his best-known sermon, “Discourse on the Transient and Permanent in Christianity.” A member of the Transcendentalist Club and a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the sermon added fuel to the Transcendentalist Controversy and angered many of Parker’s Unitarian colleagues, who banned him from their pulpits. Transcendentalists placed less emphasis on … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 19

1954 – Toribio Sabandija Quimada requested aid from the Universalist Church of America and thus began the process of founding the Universalist Church of the Philippines. The post May 18 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

1792 – Anne Milbank was born. She became the wife of the poet Lord George Gordon Byron, but she was also a poet herself, as well as a mathematician, metaphysician, and noted philanthropist. Milbank established schools, gave asylum to fugitive slaves, and worked for the higher education of women. She attended Essex Street Chapel (Unitarian) … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 17

1804 – Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was born in Billerica, Massachusetts. She opened a school in Lancaster at the age of 16 and two years later began a school in Boston. She became a friend of William Ellery Channing, and served as his private secretary for nine years. Part of the Transcendentalist inner circle, she opened … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 16

1961 – The American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America consolidated to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. The two denominations had worked jointly on the publication of curricula for their religious education programs since the 1920s. The post May 15 first appeared on Harvard Square Library. Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 15

1801 – Ezra Stiles Gannett was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gannet became William Ellery Channing‘s associate and succeeded him as minister. One of the founders of the new American Unitarian Association, he served for 16 years as its first secretary. He later became AUA president and was coeditor of AUA publications. His other causes included … Continue reading This Day in Unitarian Universalist History May 14