The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society

American Anti-Slavery Society

The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...

 in 1835. Its roots were in New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...

, editor of The Liberator, in 1831. Garrison went on to organize a national organization, the American Anti-Slavery Society

American Anti-Slavery Society

The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...

, in 1833.

At first the New England Anti-Slavery Society and the American Society worked together with the New England Society becoming an auxiliary in 1834. In 1835, however, the New England Society gave up its regional jurisdiction and reorganized into the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

Following the Civil War the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society took up the cause of racial equality.