74. Franklin Benjamin Sanborn.
Manuscript: Prologue.  Spoken at the Anti Slavery Festival, Concord, Jan'y 28th 1858.
From Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Papers, CFPL Vault Collection.

The Alcott girls—known for their theatrical flair—organized a dramatic presentation to raise money for the Concord Ladies' Antislavery Society at its annual festival on January 28, 1858 (see Item 13 in this exhibition).  Not everyone in town was enthusiastic about the combination of theater and antislavery politics.  Nevertheless, director Louisa Alcott had assistance from Frank Sanborn, George Bradford Bartlett, and other sympathizers.  Money generated by the event was passed on by the local to the state antislavery society.

Sanborn wrote this prologue to the evening's entertainment—an allegory in verse, featuring Slavery and Manifest Destiny as dramatis personae.