Frances E. W. Harper – författare

One of the first novels to be published by an African-American woman, this is a compelling tale of what life was like for African-Americans during the time of the Civil War and afterwards. Harper is able to closely scrutinize the social pressures of the time, making the difficult decision to quit “passing” for white and accepting her mixed-race ethnicity.

The classic Civil War novel about a Southern woman who is unaware of her mixed-race heritage until she is sold into slavery by her uncle. The beautiful, refined daughter of a wealthy Mississippi planter and slaveholder, Iola Leroy leads a privileged life and attends school in the North. But a family tragedy leads to a stunning revelation: Iola is half Black. She is sold off into slavery and sent away from her family. Eventually freed by the Union army, Iola embraces her newfound identity as a Black woman and becomes a nurse at a military hospital. When the war finally ends, Iola’s struggles continue. But she rises to meet the challenge, working hard to improve life not only for herself, but for all Black Americans. Originally released in 1892, Iola Leroy is one of the first novels by an African American woman published in the United States. “Clearly Harper’s words prove her awareness of the cultural and political functions of narrative. . . . Iola Leroy is a novel filled with the complexities and contradictions of black-and-female existence in America in the nineteenth century. While the success of the novel is indisputable in terms of copies sold, what is harder to measure is the extent to which it altered cultural and racial attitudes.” —The Women’s Review of Books

A landmark anthology of full-length works by Black American women writers of the 19th century including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Harriet Jacobs, and Mary Weston Fordham-edited and with an introduction by C.S.R. Calloway.

Shadows Uplifted collects and celebrates the vibrant and diverse work of these often unsung Black female writers, meticulously preserving their words while making them newly accessible to modern readers of all genders and backgrounds.

Collected here for the first time in a single volume are:

"Let us continue to uplift such shadows in our history, allowing them their corporeal bodies, flesh, blood, and melanated skin. Let us continue to uplift Black women: supporting and honoring their stories, their art, and their existence." - C.S.R. Calloway

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born free on 24th September 1825 in Baltimore, Maryland which, at that time, was still a slave state.

By age 3 Frances had been orphaned and thereafter raised by her maternal aunt and uncle who also gave her her surname; Watkins.

At 13 she was working as a seamstress and then as a nursemaid for a white family that owned a bookshop. Here any spare time was used to read books in the shop and work on her own writing which from 1839 included pieces in anti-slavery journals.

By the age of 20 Frances had published her first poetry book ‘Forest Leaves, or Autumn Leaves’, marking her out as an abolitionist voice of note. Her second book, ‘Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects’ followed and was reprinted many times. It was the beginning of a remarkable career both for her literary pursuits and also her social activism.

In 1850, at age 26, she moved to teach domestic science at Union Seminary, a school for Black students near Columbus, Ohio. She was its first female teacher.

After joining the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853, Frances began her career as a public speaker and political activist.

In 1858, Frances refused to vacate her seat or ride in the ‘colored’ section of a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia. That same year her poem ‘Bury Me in a Free Land’ was published in The Anti-Slavery Bugle. She created literary history in 1859 when her short story ‘Two Offers’ was the first short story published by a Black woman.

In 1860 she married a widower named Fenton Harper. They had one daughter together in addition to his three children from a previous marriage. When her husband died four years later she kept custody of their daughter and moved to the East Coast.

Frances founded, supported, and held high office in several national progressive organizations. In 1886 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women''s Christian Temperance Union. A decade later she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president.

Throughout her activist activities she continued to write, weaving politics into her fictional narratives. Although her canon is small it contains work that advanced thinking on the roles of black women in society.

Frances E W Harper, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer, died of heart failure on 22nd February 1911 in Philadelphia. She was 85. Women were still not permitted to vote.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

The history of the African American is mainly one of slavery and subjugation. It is a terrible and heinous stain upon the moral fabric of humanity. Literature could not provide an answer, but it did promote the voices of many talents so that all opinions and narratives were heard. There is no doubt that stories from the African American diaspora are both unique and compelling. Sometimes the harshness of their lot is tragic and dispiriting but the energy and voices of these unfairly neglected authors rings true, and rings bright.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

As we all too easily recognise life continues to be difficult for many women. For the African American women authors of these stories, life was hard, bitter, and a weight on the soul that tested both heart and faith. However, these stories, many of which are grueling and difficult, so ignite the spark within all of us that hope and the ability to deal with terrible injustice can at times produce some small good. In these stories we find that spark. Grace, nobility and the weight of history stride with them.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born free on 24th September 1825 in Baltimore, Maryland which, at that time, was still a slave state.

By age 3 Frances had been orphaned and thereafter raised by her maternal aunt and uncle who also gave her her surname; Watkins.

At 13 she was working as a seamstress and then as a nursemaid for a white family that owned a bookshop. Here any spare time was used to read books in the shop and work on her own writing which from 1839 included pieces in anti-slavery journals.

By the age of 20 Frances had published her first poetry book ‘Forest Leaves, or Autumn Leaves’, marking her out as an abolitionist voice of note. Her second book, ‘Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects’ followed and was reprinted many times. It was the beginning of a remarkable career both for her literary pursuits and also her social activism.

In 1850, at age 26, she moved to teach domestic science at Union Seminary, a school for Black students near Columbus, Ohio. She was its first female teacher.

After joining the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853, Frances began her career as a public speaker and political activist.

In 1858, Frances refused to vacate her seat or ride in the ‘colored’ section of a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia. That same year her poem ‘Bury Me in a Free Land’ was published in The Anti-Slavery Bugle. She created literary history in 1859 when her short story ‘Two Offers’ was the first short story published by a Black woman.

In 1860 she married a widower named Fenton Harper. They had one daughter together in addition to his three children from a previous marriage. When her husband died four years later she kept custody of their daughter and moved to the East Coast.

Frances founded, supported, and held high office in several national progressive organizations. In 1886 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women''s Christian Temperance Union. A decade later she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president.

Throughout her activist activities she continued to write, weaving politics into her fictional narratives. Although her canon is small it contains work that advanced thinking on the roles of black women in society.

Frances E W Harper, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer, died of heart failure on 22nd February 1911 in Philadelphia. She was 85. Women were still not permitted to vote,

Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born free on 24th September 1825 in Baltimore, Maryland which, at that time, was still a slave state.

By age 3 Frances had been orphaned and thereafter raised by her maternal aunt and uncle who also gave her her surname; Watkins.

At 13 she was working as a seamstress and then as a nursemaid for a white family that owned a bookshop. Here any spare time was used to read books in the shop and work on her own writing which from 1839 included pieces in anti-slavery journals.

By the age of 20 Frances had published her first poetry book ‘Forest Leaves, or Autumn Leaves’, marking her out as an abolitionist voice of note. Her second book, ‘Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects’ followed and was reprinted many times. It was the beginning of a remarkable career both for her literary pursuits and also her social activism.

In 1850, at age 26, she moved to teach domestic science at Union Seminary, a school for Black students near Columbus, Ohio. She was its first female teacher.

After joining the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853, Frances began her career as a public speaker and political activist.

In 1858, Frances refused to vacate her seat or ride in the ‘colored’ section of a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia. That same year her poem ‘Bury Me in a Free Land’ was published in The Anti-Slavery Bugle. She created literary history in 1859 when her short story ‘Two Offers’ was the first short story published by a Black woman.

In 1860 she married a widower named Fenton Harper. They had one daughter together in addition to his three children from a previous marriage. When her husband died four years later she kept custody of their daughter and moved to the East Coast.

Frances founded, supported, and held high office in several national progressive organizations. In 1886 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women''s Christian Temperance Union. A decade later she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president.

Throughout her activist activities she continued to write, weaving politics into her fictional narratives. Although her canon is small it contains work that advanced thinking on the roles of black women in society.

Frances E W Harper, abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer, died of heart failure on 22nd February 1911 in Philadelphia. She was 85. Women were still not permitted to vote.