July 11, 1656 - First Quakers Arrive in America

On July 11, 1656, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher became the first Quakers to arrive in America. They landed in Boston after embarking from Barbados. However, local authorities immediately arrested them, believing the Quaker message to be dangerous and heretical. Their religious materials were confiscated and burned, and they were imprisoned for over a month with their basic rights and liberties denied. They were deported back to Barbados before they could share their message, and thus began the long, complicated tension between Protestants and Quakers in New England.