Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s Followers (78)

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Born

in Baltimore, Maryland, The United States

September 24, 1825

Died

February 22, 1911

Genre

Poetry, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

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Born to free parents in Baltimore, Maryland. After her mother died when she was three years old in 1828, Watkins was orphaned. She was raised by her aunt and uncle. She was educated at the Academy for Negro Youth, a school run by her uncle Rev. William Watkins, who was a civil rights activist. He was a major influence on her life and work. At fourteen, she found work as a seamstress.

Frances Watkins had her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, published in 1845 (it has been lost). Her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, published in 1854, was extremely popular. Over the next few years, it was reprinted in 20 editions. Many African American women's service clubs named themselves in her honor, and across the nation, in cities such a Born to free parents in Baltimore, Maryland. After her mother died when she was three years old in 1828, Watkins was orphaned. She was raised by her aunt and uncle. She was educated at the Academy for Negro Youth, a school run by her uncle Rev. William Watkins, who was a civil rights activist. He was a major influence on her life and work. At fourteen, she found work as a seamstress.

Frances Watkins had her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, published in 1845 (it has been lost). Her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, published in 1854, was extremely popular. Over the next few years, it was reprinted in 20 editions. Many African American women's service clubs named themselves in her honor, and across the nation, in cities such as St. Louis, St. Paul, and Pittsburgh, F. E. W. Harper Leagues and Frances E. Harper Women's Christian Temperance Unions thrived well into the twentieth century.

In 1850, Watkins moved to Ohio, where she worked as the first woman teacher at Union Seminary, established by the Ohio Conference of the AME Church. (Union closed in 1863 when the AME Church diverted its funds to purchase Wilberforce University.) The school in Wilberforce was run by the Rev. John Brown (not the same as the abolitionist). In 1853, Watkins joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and became a traveling lecturer for the group. In 1854, Watkins delivered her first anti-slavery speech on “Education and the Elevation of Colored Race”. The success of this speech resulted a two-year lecture tour in Maine for the Anti-Slavery Society. She traveled, lecturing throughout the East and Midwest from 1856 to 1860. In 1859, her story “The Two Offers” was published in the Anglo-African Magazine, a great accomplishment as it became the first short story to ever be published by an African American.

In 1860, she married Fenton Harper, a widower with three children. They had a daughter together in 1862. For a time Frances withdrew from the lecture circuit. However, after her husband Fenton died in 1864, Watkins returned to her travels and lecturing.

Frances Harper was a strong supporter of prohibition and woman's suffrage. She was also active in the Unitarian Church, which supported abolition. She often would read her poetry at the public meetings, including the extremely popular Bury Me in a Free Land. She was connected with national leaders in suffrage, and in 1866 gave a moving speech before the National Women's Rights Convention, demanding equal rights for all, including black women. Watkins was very involved in black organizations. From 1883 to 1890, she helped organize activities for the National Woman’s Christian temperance Union.

She also continued with her writing and continued to publish poetry. In 1892 she published Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted. One of the first novels by an African-American woman, it sold well and was reviewed widely.

Harper continued with her political activism. She helped organize the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was later elected vice president in 1897.

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Combine Editions
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s books

Average rating: 3.66 · 2,711 ratings · 309 reviews · 78 distinct works • Similar authors

	Iola Leroy 3.54 avg rating — 1,749 ratings — published 1892 — 172 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Two Offers 3.86 avg rating — 58 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poems of Frances E. W. Harper 3.79 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 1854 — 70 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Minnie's Sacrifice 3.57 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1869 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Minnie's Sacrifice, Sowing and Reaping, Trial and Triumph: Three Rediscovered Novels by Frances E.W. Harper (Black Women Writers Series) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Frances Smith Foster (Editor) 3.66 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 1994 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trial and Triumph 3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 1889 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sowing and Reaping 3.78 avg rating — 23 ratings — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sketches Of Southern Life 3.40 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2015 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects 4.08 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1857 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The African-American Novel in the Age of Reaction: 3 Classics Iola Leroy or Shadows Uplifted The Marrow Tradition The Sport Gods by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Charles W. Chesnutt 3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1992	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper…

Quotes by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (?)

“Every mother should be a true artist, who knows how to weave into her child's life images of grace and beauty, the true poet capable of writing on the soul of childhood the harmony of love and truth, and teaching it how to produce the grandest of all poems - the poetry of a true and noble life.”
― Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

40 likes

“Intense love is often akin to intense suffering.”
― Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Collected Works of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

4 likes

“We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse on its own soul”
― Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

2 likes

See all Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's quotes »

Polls

August 2020 Old School Poll

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass 1845, 158 pages

104 votes, 31.4%

Camille: The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils 1848, 254 pages

85 votes, 25.7%

Hunger by Knut Hamsun 1890, 134 pages

69 votes, 20.8%

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne 1760, 735 pages

38 votes, 11.5%

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon 1002, 419 pages

28 votes, 8.5%

Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1892, 220 pages

7 votes, 2.1%

331 total votes

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