Once upon a time, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842 to 1932) was one of the most well-known women in America. She was an intrepid abolitionist and believer in women’s rights. During the Civil War, she gave rousing anti-slavery speeches and was hired by the Republican party to campaign on behalf of their candidates, something unheard of for a woman of her time.
The spectacle of a diminutive girl spouting fiery words drew large crowds. The newspapers called her America’s Shining Star, the Woman of the Hour, and America’s Joan of Arc.
Today, she is forgotten.
My upcoming novel That Dickinson Girl tells the fictionalized story of Anna Dickinson’s rise to fame. In my next few blog posts, I will be sharing tidbits of Anna’s story via contemporaries, with excerpts from my novel, and in her own words.
An outstanding speaker with a far-reaching voice, at a time when public lectures were one of the main forms of entertainment, she captured the imagination of everyone who heard her speak, including Mark Twain. He described her as follows:
She talks fast, uses no notes whatever, never hesitates for a word, always gets the right word in the right place, and has the most perfect confidence in herself. Indeed, her sentences are remarkably smoothly-woven and felicitous. Her vim, her energy, her determined look, her tremendous earnestness, would compel the respect and the attention of an audience, even if she spoke in Chinese — would convince a third of them, too, even though she used arguments that would not stand analysis. (Letter to San Francisco Alta California, April 5, 1867)
A fascinating woman for sure.
For more on Anna Dickinson by Mark Twain, visit http://www.twainquotes.com/18670405.html
“The world belongs to those who take it.” -ANNA DICKINSON