POETRY, PASTRIES & PIES PODCAST: The Activism and Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Image Source: Colored Conventions Project

“Slavery is dead, but the spirit which animated it still lives.” -Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

As we come to the close of National Poetry Month, I wanted to present this spotlight on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825-February 22, 1911), an American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, temperance activist, teacher, public speaker, and writer.

She was well-educated and had a talent for writing from an early age. Her first collection of poetry was published when she was 20 years old under the title Forest Leaves. As she began lecturing on the subjects she was passionate about, her skills as a compelling public speaker were widely praised. Her 1854 collection Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects was one of her most successful publications with an introduction written by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Her heartbreaking poem “The Slave Mother” is arguably her best known. She became the first black woman to have a short story published when her work, The Two Offers, appeared in the Anglo-African Magazine.

Encouraged by these successes Frances produced a steady output of poetry and short stories. Much later, her novel, Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892), became another critical and commercial success.

But Frances’ literary achievements were just a smidgen of the incredibly courageous work she did unselfishly. During the 19th century, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a leading light in the “Underground Railroad”, a network of routes, safe houses, and people sympathetic to the plight of fleeing slaves. She worked alongside William Still, who is known as the Father of the Underground Railroad while he was an office clerk and janitor in the office of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, to help fugitives cross the border to British North America (now known as Canada). She was an inspirational figure and an activist with the mid-1850s American Anti-Slavery Society. 

With support from Stills, Frances Harper began writing poetry for antislavery newspapers. Her poem, “Eliza Harris,” was published in The Liberator, and in Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Harper wrote many poems about slaves and slavery and one of her most poignant was The Slave Auction, one that I recited on today’s podcast.

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With Gratitude,

Kym Gordon Moore, MBA   Author, Poet, Podcaster

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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911). Iola Leroy or, Shadows Uplifted. Philadelphia: Garrigues Brothers, 1892. Susan B. Anthony Collection. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (046.03.00)