"Eliza Ann Dixon Day" (?-1800)

A member of of the John Street Methodist Church and founding member of the A.M.E. Zion Church in New York City,Eliza  Day combined religious devotion with abolitionist politics.She was an active abolitionist who established a pattern of activism for her children.Eliza was a regular participant in the abolitionist movement and been one of many to flee an abolitionist meeting at the Chatham Street Chapel in 1833 when it was attacked by a mob.For days after the incident,as antiabortionist mobs ravaged the city,the Days kept their home barricaded.She struggled to support her family after her husband John,a sail maker and veteran,died at sea in 1829.Her eldest son supplemented her meager resources by securing a job on a ship.She was able to provide a good education for youngest son William Howard Day (1825-1900),who later went on to become a minister,newspaper editor,orator,and black nationalist leader.