Though most people usually focus on slavery itself, there were also many anti-slavery acts that happened. Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown were two fugitive slaves that provided compelling anti-slavery testimony against white slave owners. As this was going on, woman's rights acts were being considered and some passed. African-American women also joined the battle for anti-slavery, but it was hard enough for them to battle for woman's rights, let alone an African-American woman. Because of the opposition black women faced, they often raised money and encouraged others by teaching and spreading the word that slavery should be abolished. Men were usually the only black people at anti-slavery meetings and conventions, for their wives were often holding down the fort, however few women did attend these meetings and conventions. Black people were not the only ones to fight slavery, Many sympathizers also attended meetings to abolish slavery, and treated black people with the respect that they deserved. These sympathizers were called Abolitionists, and were sometimes treated as slaves were. They were often "taught a lesson" by people who were for slavery.  These "lessons" often involved beatings, lashings, or even death of the abolitionist. These people were shunned and lost many so-called friends, but they were doing good by fighting for freedom.

http://americanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu/brief.htm