SHE VOTES, U.S. #2020ELECTION - POST 6: FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER (1825-1911)

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born on September 24, 1825, in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born to free Black parents, but by the age of three, her parents passed away [1]. Orphaned at a very young age, Harper was raised by her politically engaged uncle and aunt, William and Henrietta Watkins [7]. Her uncle, William Watkins, was an abolitionist who organized a literary society for African Americans and, in 1820, founded his own school and called it Watkins Academy [1]. Harper attended it until the age of 13, when she began working as a seamstress and nursemaid for a well-off white family named Armstrong, who owned a bookshop. She immediately fell in love with the books and spent all of her spare time in the shop. Before she turned 21 years old Harper already compiled her first volume of poetry titled Forest Leaves[1][3].

In 1851, Harper moved to Wilberforce, Ohio to teach at Union Seminary, a school for free Black people. There, she was the first female tutor, so a school administration assigned her to teach “domestic science” despite her desire to teach literature. After a year, Harper relocated to York, Pennsylvania to teach, but there she also found her job miserable and even called her class “53 untrained little urchins” [1][3][8]. Both of these positions didn’t let her prove herself as a passionate educator, and, in 1854, it became a turning point for Harper as an activist [3][7]. It was a year when Maryland, her home state, passed a law which did not allow free African Americans to enter the state - going back could result in being sold into slavery[1][7]. In response to this, she began writing poetry for abolitionist newspapers like The Liberator and Frederick Douglass’ Paper. By the end of same year, she wrote her second volume of poetry named Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects [1]. 

For the next 8 years, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper lectured across the country and Canada [1]. Following her speech “The Elevation and Education of our People,” she got a position as a traveling lecturer for a number of anti-slavery organizations, and even shared the platform with famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass [4]. In addition to her abolitionist lectures, Harper was committed to the betterment of women’s rights,  so she started to write poetry and novels advocating for the equality of the races and the sexes. In 1859, she published the story about education for women, which became the first story ever published by a Black woman [1]. 

Harper’s activism took a pause, when in 1860, she married Fenton Harper, had a daughter, bought a house with her savings, and settled on a farm in Ohio. Unfortunately, in 1864 her husband passed away, and their belongings and farm were repossessed by court to pay off his debts [1][3]. This year also marked the beginning of her participation in the suffrage movement, when she formed alliances with women’s suffrage leaders [1]. 

In 1866, Harper gave her famous speech “We Are All Bound Up Together” at the 11th National Women’s Rights Convention in New York [1][7]. Since the movement was already plagued by racism she said:  “I do not believe that white women are dew-drops just exhaled from the skies. I think that like men they may be divided into three classes, the good, the bad, and the indifferent. The good would vote according to their convictions and principles; the bad, as dictated by preju[d]ice or malice; and the indifferent will vote on the strongest side of the question, with the winning party”[2]. In this speech, she urged her white associates to include women of color in their fight. Despite her powerful speech, the Women’s Suffrage movement was still later divided because of different views upon the 15th amendment [1], as discussed in the 2nd post of the original series of She Grows It™. As a result, Lucy Stone, Harper, and others who supported the amendment formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in 1869 [5]. 

Always uncompromising, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper continued her tireless push for civil rights and the advancement of African American women throughout her career. She became the head of the American Association of Colored Youth (AACY) in 1894, a vice president and a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC) in 1896 and a supervisor of the Pennsylvania Women’s Christian Temperance Unions (WCTU) in the 1870s  [4][6][7]. Harper passed away in 1911, nine years before the 19th amendment was passed [1]. 

Authors: Dr. Ashley Milton, Alyssa Kalac, Marina Tsoumpa

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Reference list

1. Alexander, K. L. (2018). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Retrieved from National Women’s History Museum website: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/frances-ellen-watkins-harper

2. BlackPast. (2011, November 7). (1866) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, “We Are All Bound Up Together” •. Retrieved from BlackPast website: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1866-frances-ellen-watkins-harper-we-are-all-bound-together/

3. Dixon, M. (2018, December 14). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fought for Both Abolition and Women’s Rights. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from Main Line Today website: https://mainlinetoday.com/life-style/frances-ellen-watkins-harper-fought-for-both-abolition-and-womens-rights/

4. Frances Willard House. (2020, July 24). The Activism and Artistry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Retrieved from Frances Willard House Museum & Archives website: https://franceswillardhouse.org/the-activism-and-artistry-of-frances-ellen-watkins-harper/

5. Lange, A. (2015). American Woman Suffrage Association. Retrieved from History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage website: http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/awsa-organize#:~:text=to%20Equality%20Exhibit-

6. Parish, J. (2007). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , MSA SC 3520-12499. Retrieved from msa.maryland.gov website: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/012400/012499/html/12499bio.html

7. Poehler, A. (2020, April 13). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Abolitionist, Voting Rights Activist, Journalist. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://amysmartgirls.com/20for2020-frances-ellen-watkins-harper-abolitionist-voting-rights-activist-journalist-c796273a11b0

8. Rubiner, J. (2020). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from www.encyclopedia.com website: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-literature-biographies/frances-ellen-watkins-harper