Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins
1825-1911 · Contribution: 1845-1900
Poetry, fiction, and abolitionist/suffragist writing and oratory; novel 'Iola Leroy' (1892), poetry collections such as 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects' (1854), and the widely reprinted poem 'Bury Me in a Free Land'
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
One of the first African American women published in the United States and among the first Black women to publish a novel; her 1859 story 'The Two Offers' is considered the first short story published by a Black woman.
Life & background
African-American writer, abolitionist, and suffragist born free Sept 24, 1825 in Baltimore, MD. A traveling anti-slavery lecturer who aided the Underground Railroad; co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women. Died Feb 22, 1911.
Sources
- Poetry Foundation; literary scholarship
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