Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) born to free parents in Baltimore, Maryland, was an African American abolitionist and poet. Her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, was published in 1845, the book was extremely popular and over the next few years went through 20 editions. In 1850, she started working in Columbus, Ohio as a schoolteacher. Three years later in 1853, she joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and became a travelling lecturer for the group. She was also a strong supporter of prohibition and woman's suffrage. In 1892, she published a novel about a rescued black slave and the Reconstructed South, called Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted one of the first books published by an African American. Later, she wrote Minnie's Sacrifice, Sowing and Reaping and Trial and Triumph. Harper was a strong supporter of women's suffrage and was a member of the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).
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Editorial Reviews
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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was "the most popular African-American writer of the nineteenth century..." -- Frances Smith Foster, Editor, A Brighter Coming Day
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was "the most popular African-American writer of the nineteenth century but also one of the most important woman in United States history." --Frances Smith Foster, Editor, A Brighter Coming Day --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was "the most popular African-American writer of the nineteenth century but also one of the most important woman in United States history." --Frances Smith Foster, Editor, A Brighter Coming Day --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's amazing career spanned more than seven decades. In an amazing career that spanned more than seven decades, Harper earned the respect and recognition of her peers as well as of the everyday person--both white and black--as a lecturer and orator, activist, abolitionist,, novelist, essayist, and poet. To her many admirers, she was known as the "Bronze Muse" of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was one of the most celebrated black Americans of her day to produce black--and universal--literature. Harper often spoke before standing room only crowds who came to hear her denounce slavery, uplift the black race, and call for togetherness at a time when the United States was embroiled in the Civil War. The famous lecturer and poet saw herself as the "voice of the people"--as a representative for the silent people who were unable to speak for themselves. One might say that Harper was the Martin Luther King Jr. of her day, for she was relentless in her pursuit of justice. She was born on September 24, 1825 in Baltimore and until her death of heart failure in Philadelphia in 1911, Harper remained active in the several reform organizations to which she belonged. Lately, Harper's work has been on a steady upswing. To be a part of this resurgence of a great talent is a tremendous opportunity for me. After reading her works, I was amazed by the profundity of this important figure in American literature.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Perils of Public Poetry,
By William M. Ramsey (Florence, SC United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Poems (Paperback)
A much finer collection of Harper's verse than this could be made. Here are collected the most standard examples of Harper's public verse--in which the voice is declamatory and oratorical in a most wooden way and effective only in the public lecture hall. Not even "The Slave Mother" is here, the best of that type. Missing from his collection are the Aunt Chloe poems, the high point of her poetic output, where the public voice is dropped for the more intimate folk voice. The introduction to this book is plebian, revealing a weak literary sensibility.
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