Frances Harper (1825-1911)

Happy Wednesday and Happy Novel Writing Month to you all! We're starting off with the story of Frances Harper, the first black woman to publish a short story.

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Born Frances Ellen Watkins on September 24, 1825, in Baltimore, Maryland, Frances E.W. Harper was a leading African-American poet and writer. She was also an ardent activist in the abolitionist and women's rights movements. After losing her mother at a young age, Harper was raised by an aunt. She also attended a school for African-American children run by her uncle, Reverend William Watkins.

In 1854, Harper published Poems of Miscellaneous Subjects, which featured one of her most famous works, "Bury Me in a Free Land." She also became an in-demand lecturer on behalf of the abolitionist movement, appearing with the likes of Frederick Douglass, William Garrison, Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone.

Harper made literary history in 1859 with the publication of "Two Offers." With this work, she became the first African-American female writer to publish a short story. The following year, she married Fenton Harper, who had several children from a previous marriage. Harper retreated from public life, choosing to live with her husband and children in Ohio. In 1862, she gave birth to a daughter, Mary.

Harper published her most famous novel Iola Leroy in 1892. Four years later, she cofounded the National Association of Colored Women with Ida Wells-Barnett, Harriet Tubman and several others. The organization sought to improve the lives and advance the rights of African-American women.

By the turn of the century, Harper began to scale down her activities, though she still worked to support such causes as women's suffrage and such organizations as the NACW and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Harper died of heart failure on February 22, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was buried next to her daughter, Mary, at Eden Cemetery.

Reference

Biography.org