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He singled out slavery, however, not merely as a cruel practice… but a demonic one.

Benjamin then splattered the slave-owning Quakers at the meeting with the Bible’s “blood.” The message was clear: supporting slavery was akin to murdering the Word of God.ĭuring his life, “Little Benjamin” wrote over 200 pamphlets, condemning animal cruelty, imprisonment, and capital punishment. Blood appeared to spray out of the Bible. The Bible had been hollowed out, and Benjamin had placed an animal bladder filled with blood-red juice inside. He ended by holding the Bible high above his head… and then plunging a sword into it. After traveling 30 miles on foot, Benjamin took full advantage of the Quaker tradition of rising to speak when the spirit moved you: in his case, he rose to deliver a fiery anti-slavery speech grounded in Biblical verse. This didn’t stop him from returning, and continuing to pressure those communities to live up to their professed ideals.īenjamin Lay saved his most creative and dramatic act of guerilla theatre for a potentially high-impact moment: a regional Quaker gathering that took place only once a year.

His various actions led him to be physically removed – and even permanently expelled – from Quaker meetings on numerous occasions. Such actions were not uncommon for Benjamin: he put his body on the line again and again… but in his case, to challenge his own community.

When they expressed concern for his health, he responded that enslaved people had little protection against the elements, and that the congregants should show the same concern for them. He positioned himself in the gateway leading to the meetinghouse, ensuring that each congregant would pass by him. Benjamin eventually settled in the British colony of Pennsylvania, where he scandalized his fellow Quakers with intense public protests and acts of “guerilla theatre” against slavery.īarely four feet tall, with dwarfism and a spinal condition known as hyperkyphosis, “Little Benjamin” (as he called himself) once stood outside a Quaker meeting in the snow… barefoot and with no coat. The experience guided him towards an early embrace of abolitionism, especially after witnessing a slave commit suicide to escape abuse. Born in England in 1682, as a sailor Benjamin Lay witnessed the brutality of the slave trade first hand.