An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 9/26/2020
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"We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul."
Continuing in the theme of early African American writers and publishers, Frances E. W. Harper holds the distinction of being the very first black woman to be published in the U.S. Born to free black parents in 1825 and educated at Watkins Academy (a school run by her uncle, a supporter of the Underground Railroad), Harper showed an early aptitude for language and writing. She published her first collection of poetry, Forest Leaves, in 1845. She later taught at Union Seminary in Ohio, which was at the time run by abolitionist John Brown.
Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 --a law which, if broadly interpreted, put free black citizens in danger of being arrested and driven back into slavery-- inspired Harper to become an outspoken abolitionist. Her second book of poems, Poems of Miscellaneous Subjects, was published in 1854 and was a springboard to a lucrative lecture circuit. But it was in 1859 when Harper made literary history when her short story, Two Offers, was published --the first ever such achievement for a black woman in the U.S. Her first and most famous novel, Iola Leroy, was published in 1892. The novel follows the life of Iola, a young slave who is later freed, and who could "pass" in society on account of her light complexion. The plot setting is during the Civil War and Reconstruction, following Iola's attempts to reunite with her family. Besides its time period and offering commentary about abolition, significantly the story also touches on miscegenation, temperance, and the role of women in a post-Reconstruction society.
In 1866 Harper spoke at the National Women's Rights Convention, reminding the assembly that equal voting rights for women must also include black women. In her later years, she advocated for women's suffrage and was also active in a number of temperance societies. She is also named as a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), along with Mary Church Terrell (see Lesson #29 in this series), Ida B. Wells (see Lesson #33 in this series), and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (see Lesson #40 in this series). Harper died in 1911 --nine years shy of the 19th Amendment.
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