Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins (1825-1911), was an American author and lecturer. She was the leading black poet of her time and also published novels and numerous essays. In her writings and lectures, Harper showed her strong interest in women’s rights, the abolition of slavery, and the prohibition of alcohol.
Frances Ellen Watkins was born of free parents on Sept. 24, 1825, in Baltimore. Her parents died when she was a child. She was raised and educated by an uncle, who ran a school for free blacks. She supported the underground railroad, which aided escaped slaves, and, in 1854, began lecturing for the abolition of slavery. She married Fenton Harper, a farmer, in 1860. Her husband died in 1864. Harper then divided her time between writing and working to win voting rights for women. From 1883 to 1890, Harper also served as superintendent of activities among blacks for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).
Harper’s writings include Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) and the novel Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892). Minnie’s Sacrifice and two other novels that appeared in installments in the magazine The Christian Recorder from 1869 to 1877 were published in Three Rediscovered Novels (1994). Harper died on Feb. 22, 1911.
See also African American literature (The 1800’s) .
