1849Charles Sumner gave a lecture at the Gloucester Lyceum.People and Communities, Arts and Culture, Cultural Institutions, Notable People

Charles Sumner served as a leading abolitionist in the U.S. Senate, as well as a fierce advocate for civil rights His stance on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 led South Carolina Congressman Preston S. Brooks to beat him senseless with a cane on the Senate floor. Sumner never fully recovered. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Sumner fought against U.S. imperialistic expansion and anti-immigration policy.

His lecture given on Feb. 27, 1849, was entitled “The law of human progress.”