Contributing to the Civil War in 1861 by supporting the union effort, many slaves were also set free by the people who heard the sister’s message. Their impact was historical and remembered in textbooks today. The Grimke sisters accomplished many things educationally, and through education, the Grimke sisters were able to be the first women to publish and spread their stances on civil and moral liberties. Starting with their education growing up, both sisters were taught reading, writing, math, art, needle work, and French as a child. Sarah took it on herself to learn history, geography, science, Greek, and advanced mathematics from studying her brother’s school books, and her father allowed her to participate in the semi formal debates that he arranged for his sons as law school preparation (Lerner, Gerda.).
The sisters used this education to teach their family’s slaves, and progressed to teaching in church, and eventually lead to teaching in open seminars. Sarah taught her young slave Hetty to read and spell late at night until they were caught by Sarah’s parents. She tried to take her education to sunday school to teach to the young slaves but couldn 't educate them because of the 1740 Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves Act. This eventually lead the sisters to the Quaker religion, and used their education to write about anti-slavery, leading them to get their writings published soon