Shaw family.

The Shaws, a prosperous and well-connected Boston family, were also radical abolitionists. Francis George Shaw (1809-1882), worked to establish the Freedman's Bureau. Sarah Blake Sturgis Shaw urged her son, Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863) to lead the first African-American regiment of soldiers in 1863 during the Civil War. In 1863, Robert was killed while leading the 54th Regiment in an assault on Fort Wagner, Charleston, South Carolina. Josephine Shaw Lowell, the Shaw's third daughter, began a long career in political and social movements. She organized and established several relief organizations such as the Consumers' League of New York (1896), was the first woman member of the New York State Board of Charities (1876) and was actively involved in the labor movement. Lowell also lead the anti-Imperialist movement during the Spanish- American War and opposed American imperalism in the Philippines and the Caribbean.