Jane Grey Swisshelm

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Activists, Authors, Civil War, Journalists, Women's Rights, Writing

JANE GREY SWISSHELM (December 6, 1815 -July 22, 1884) was a journalist, abolitionist, publisher, and advocate for women’s rights. Early Life Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, she was raised by her widowed mother. Bright and energetic, she began as a teacher, but was drawn to journalism. After a difficult marriage to a farmer and a subsequent divorce, she moved to Minnesota and became editor and publisher of the St. Cloud Visiter. She was outspoken in her support of abolition, women’s rights, and against capital punishment. She was known to be full of righteous fury. For example, she hounded a Southerner who had moved to Minnesota withRead More →

Josephina St. Pierre Ruffin

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In: 19th Century Women, Civil War, Journalists, Women's Rights

Born in Boston, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924) grew up in a family of fighters for justice, her father a leader in the Black community. So, it is not surprising that she devoted herself to bettering the standing and power of 19th century black women throughout her life. As a young, newly married woman, she and her husband, the first black graduate of Harvard Law School, resettled in Liverpool, England to protest the Dred Scott decision, which solidified slavery in the United States. They returned at the start of the American Civil War to speak out for abolition and to recruit black men to serveRead More →

Caroline Dall 19th century author

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In: 19th Century Women, Authors, Literature, Religion, Women's Rights

I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to track down the contributions of those whose histories and work have been forgotten. In 1861, the prolific writer, feminist, and transcendentalist, Caroline Wells Healey Dall, better known as Mrs. Dall, wrote Historical Pictures Retouched: a Volume of Miscellanies. In this volume, Dall wrote studies of over forty women, ranging from those of ancient times to her own contemporaries who were not given the importance they deserved. Such a work of research was to be expected from a woman who wrote such diverse works as the history of Egypt, women’s rights, children’s books, novels,Read More →

Sojourner Truth

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Civil War

Which is more important – the words or how they are said?   Born a slave in Hurley in Ulster County, New York around 1779, Sojourner had little chance to learn to read and write. She passed through the hands of numerous owners, many of them cruel, before she was given her freedom at age 30 when New York State abolished slavery in 1827.  In 1844, she joined the Utopian community, The Northamption Association of Education and Industry, a 200 member silk-growing cooperative founded by abolitionists. There she met noted abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass who provided support for her efforts.Read More →

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Civil War, Literature

 “I ask no monument, proud and high to arrest the gaze of the passers-by; all that my yearning spirit craves is bury me not in a land of slaves.” Inscription, Contemplative Court,  Smithsonian‘s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was a poet, abolitionist, and suffragist who first achieved renown through her antislavery poetry. Born in 1825, a free woman in Baltimore,  she published her first book of poems at around the age of twenty. Before the Civil War, she moved to Pennsylvania, where she joined the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and worked with William Stills helping slaves escape via theRead More →

Harriet Tubman

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Civil War, News, Writing

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) was recognized as a hero in her own day. An escaped slave, she repeatedly went back to the south and led other slaves to freedom, saving thousands. Outspoken and fearless, she was a passionate and influential speaker in both the abolitionist movement and in the fight for women’s rights. It is very hard to know for sure if the words attributed to Harriet Tubman are truly hers. Dr. Sernett, author of Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History (Duke University Press, 2007) says, “Because she was illiterate, we have mediated histories of her — stories always told by others — that leave it open toRead More →