Today in History - July 11, 1656 - First Quaker Colonists Land at Boston

First Quaker Colonists Land at Boston - July 11, 1656

   Today in History, Two Englishwomen from Barbados, arrive at the Massachusetts Bay Colony to immigrate to the American colonies. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher came from a center in Barbados  where Quakers had established a missionary work.
  Quakers, who had their start in the early 1650s in England, was a Christian movement founded by George Fox. The Quakers were big on sexual equality, and were opposed to slavery.
    The two women mentioned above, came into difficulties with the Puritan community that surrounded them, and they were arrested for their liberal writings. They were in jail for five years, then were deported back to Barbados.
   In October of 1656, the Massachusetts colonial government put out their first ban on Quakers. Two years later, Quakers were ordered 'banished' from the colony 'under the penalty of death'. The Quakers found safety in Rhode Island, and some of the other colonies, where they weren't being banned. The Massachusetts anti-Quaker laws were later repealed.

Source: History.com - First Quakers Land at Boston