Reception by colored citizens of Boston
August 19, 1840
Writing to James Barbadoes, Thomas Cole, and J. T. Hilton, Garrison acknowledges receipt of an “affectionate and heart-melting letter congratulating me on my return in safety to the land of my nativity, and inviting me, in behalf of the colored citizens of Boston, to attend a public-meeting tomorrow evening, for the purpose of receiving their hearty welcome, and the assurance of their continued attachment and unshaken confidence…. there are none among the whole human race so dear to me as my colored friends in this city; because they were the first to give me the right hand of fellowship, and to bid me God speed in my warfare against the monster of monsters, American slavery…”
1