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

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.