Wright, Frances (1795-1852), was a lecturer and journalist who worked to promote human rights in the United States. She supported women’s rights, the abolition of slavery, and public education for children.
Wright was born on Sept. 6, 1795, in Scotland and came to the United States in 1824. In 1828 and 1829, she toured the country, lecturing to large, working-class audiences. Wright argued that depriving women of equal rights lowered the quality of life for all people. She shocked audiences by claiming that women had a right to receive information on birth control and to seek divorces. Wright criticized organized religions because she believed they discouraged people from thinking for themselves.
In 1825, Wright founded Nashoba, a model community near Memphis in which slaves worked to buy their freedom. Nashoba failed and closed in 1827. Wright then joined a community founded by the Welsh-born social theorist Robert Owen in New Harmony, Ind. Wright and Owen’s son, Robert D. Owen, edited the New Harmony Gazette, a magazine. From 1829 to 1832, they edited the magazine Free Enquirer in New York City. Wright died on Dec. 13, 1852.
