This two-story brick masonry townhouse was home to abolitionist activist, poet, and educator Charlotte Forten Grimké and her husband, Rev. Francis Grimké, from 1881 to 1885. Charlotte “Lottie” Forten was born in 1837 to Robert Bridges Forten and Mary Virginia Wood, prominent Black abolitionists in Philadelphia. After her mother’s untimely passing in 1840, Forten was raised by her maternal grandmother Edy, and aunt Annie. Edy died in 1846, at which time Annie was adopted by abolitionists Joseph Cassey and Amy Matilda Cassey. Forten spent the next eight years being raised by various members…
