Frances Harper, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Frances Harper

American writer

Date of Birth: 24-Sep-1825

Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Date of Death: 22-Feb-1911

Profession: writer, poet, suffragette, author, journalist, novelist, lecturer, short story writer, suffragist, feminist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About Frances Harper

  • Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825 – February 22, 1911) was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer, one of the first African American women to be published in the United States.
  • Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, she had a long and prolific career, publishing her first book of poetry at the age of 20.
  • At 67, she published her novel Iola Leroy (1892), which was widely praised.
  • As a young woman in 1850, she taught sewing at Union Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, a school affiliated with the AME Church.
  • In 1851, alongside William Still, chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, she helped refugee slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada.
  • In 1853 she began her career as a public speaker and political activist after joining the American Anti-Slavery Society.
  • Her collection Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) became her biggest commercial success.
  • Her short story "Two Offers" was published in the Anglo-African in 1859, making literary history as the first short story published by a black woman. Harper founded, supported, and held high office in several national progressive organizations.
  • In 1883 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women's Christian Temperance Union.
  • In 1894 she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president.
  • Harper died aged 85 on February 22, 1911, nine years before women gained the right to vote.

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