The idea of the liberation of animals from enslavement by human beings is not new; it did not originate in the 1970s, but is an ancient idea, perhaps even as old as humanity itself. As far as we, as students of American vegetarian and animal liberation history, have been able to determine, the first organized effort for animal rights began as the American Vegetarian Society in 1850. However, this is not to imply that no Americans prior to that date were interested in the well-being of animals. As we shall show on other pages of this Website, other Americans prior to 1850 demonstrated concern for animals, including those farmed for food purposes. For example, the Bible-Christian church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, led by Rev. William Metcalfe, held public vegetarian dinners and published a cookbook, and one reason church members abstained from animal flesh was out of kindness to animals, which in turn benefited the human heart and with it the soul. One of the founders of the American Vegetarian Society, a Vice President, was A. Bronson Alcott, the famous philosopher. Unfortunately, much nonsense and misinformation has been written regarding Mr. Alcott. What we know for fact is that Alcott contributed substantially to the forwarding of vegetarianism and animal rights in the United States. His concern for animals was part of his philosophy of life, which was based on his spirituality and self-education. Alcott was a leading abolitionist who was an early supporter of William Lloyd Garrison (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASgarrison.htm), publisher of The Liberator – the famous anti-slavery newspaper. (http://www.sewanee.edu/faculty/Willis/Civil_War/documents/Liberator.html) Alcott’s home (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/) was part of the Underground Railroad. (http://www.freedomcenter.org/ ) An important leader in Garrison’s peace organization known as the New England Non-Resistance Society, (http://www.adinballou.org/americaswars.shtml) Alcott believed the peace he hoped for the world would happen when people first began to relate to one another, including to family members, with loving kindness. Few people know, and scholars seldom take seriously, Alcott’s important role in the history of America including his act of civil disobedience. In protest of war and slavery, Alcott refused to pay a tax and was arrested. He hoped to spend time in jail but against his wishes someone paid his one dollar tax. Yet his action of civil disobedience was a major influence on his young friend Henry David Thoreau, who three years later committed the same act of civil disobedience that has gone down in history. Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience (http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html) has inspired people around the world. Alcott, instead of being remembered for civil disobedience against bad government, or for his role as the initial but unofficial leader of the American Transcendentalism, also known as New England Transcendentalism, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/movement) or his participation in the movement for women’s equality, Alcott is most often recalled by historians either because he was the father of Louisa May Alcott, http://www.louisamayalcott.org/louisamaytext.html) or for the community he and Charles Lane (http://www.voluntaryist.com/avpg/intro.php) founded in 1843: Fruitlands in Harvard, Massachusetts (http://harvard.ma.us/) . Today Fruitlands is a museum (but evidently not dedicated to Alcott and Lane’s veganism), but in the 19th century for ten months it was a small community dedicated to ideals such as veganism, animal rights, women’s equality, peace, and Transcendentalism. A letter Alcott and Lane wrote regarding Fruitlands is available for reading at the Fruitlands Museum website. (http://www.fruitlands.org/collections.php) Alcott taught that the personal is political; therefore, he lived as he believed: encouraging his daughters to pursue whatever interested them despite what constraints society attempted to place on females, supporting the women’s equality movement, standing up against slavery and other violence, teaching philosophy,and practicing vegetarianism (probably veganism most of the time). Although the Fruitlands community did not last, it is significant in history, particularly in the history of vegetarianism. Probably most people then believed, as some uninformed people might believe today, that the vegan diet Alcott provided for his family was inadequate for his children, and that they were also 'mistreated' because the family followed Sylvester Graham’s system of health. The Graham way was vegan diet with whole grain bread and water to drink, and included cool water bathing and regular exercise and adequate rest, and abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and all drugs and herbs -- all to maintain good health. Graham, like Alcott, was ahead of the times in his ideas, yet Graham’s system has been enculturated in part into today’s society. Common knowledge holds that eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, drinking water, getting enough rest and exercise, and avoiding alcohol, drugs, and tobacco may prevent sickness. The idea was promoted in the 19th Century by Graham, and other advocates of vegetarianism. Early in adulthood Alcott was a schoolmaster who introduced many innovations into the American classroom. Some of these innovations such as school library, art and gym classes, student council, and parental involvement have been incorporated into the education of today. At one point, Alcott invited Graham to lecture in his classroom. Graham was a controversial figure, a health savior to some and a nemesis to othersfor preaching against meat, white flour, alcohol, and 'regular' medicine meaning allopathetic. Graham said the body heals itself, and that the potions the allopathic physicians administered were no more than poisons causing harm and even death. Today this Graham-type system of 'drugless medicine' is known as Natural Hygiene, and in its pure form is always vegan. (http://www.getwellstaywellamerica.com/) Alcott too was the subject of controversy for several reasons, inlcuding using the Socratic method in his classroom (http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/curriculum/socratic.htm) to teach children, and encouraging them to think critically, which was a challenge to society and traditions. Although it was taboo, Alcott enrolled a Black child into his class. For allowing the girl into his classroom, and for his other unconventional ideas, Alcott was driven out of teaching as a profession. However, Alcott never stopped being a teacher. He shared his ideas in magazine and newspaper articles and in the books he wrote. Today his voluminous journals remain unpublished. (note: we would love to publish them !) Eventually he was appointed Superintendent of schools for Concord, Massachusetts. (http://www.concordma.com/) Later in his life, Alcott lectured far and wide holding ‘Conversations’ – Socratic talks he led in parlors, churches, and college classrooms – on a variety of related philosophical, spirituality, and health subjects. Animal liberation and vegetarianism were among Alcott’s topics for lectures. One of the Yale college students who attended an Alcott lecture was William Torrey Harris, (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/5k.htm) who went on to become the first Commissioner of Education in the United States. In his elder years, Alcott fulfilled a dream of founding an academy for the study of philosophy. Alcott favored Plato’s philosophy, while Harris, who taught at the School of Philosophy located at Alcott’s Orchard house, was a Hegelian. We need to conduct further research to determine if Harris followed any of Alcott’s ideas for educating the young, but at this point is seems not as Harris was a Hegelian and a collectivist, which seems antithetical to Alcott’s staunch defense of American individualism in the way he lived his life, including the causes he supported. This exhibit provides a glimpse into the live of A. Bronson Alcott: American, vegetarian, philosopher. We would be happy to hear from you; contact us or write: Vegetarian Museum-Iacobbo Box 334 Smithfield, Rhode Island (02828)