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    Poems
    Poems
    Poems
    Ebook183 pages55 minutes

    Poems

    By Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    Poems
    Author

    Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

    Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was an African American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, and novelist. Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, Harper became one of the first women of color to publish a work of literature in the United States when her debut poetry collection Forest Leaves appeared in 1845. In 1850, she began to teach sewing at Union Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. The following year, alongside chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society William Still, she began working as an abolitionist in earnest, helping slaves escape to Canada along the Underground Railroad. In 1854, having established herself as a prominent public speaker and political activist, Harper published Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, a resounding critical and commercial success. Over the course of her life, Harper founded and participated in several progressive organizations, including the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the National Association of Colored Women. At the age of sixty-seven, Harper published Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted, becoming one of the first African American women to publish a novel.

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      Book preview

      Poems - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

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