Hartford, Connecticut (c 1803- December 17, 1879) age ~76 yrs

Maria Stewart was an essayist, lecturer, teacher, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. She was the earliest known American woman to lecture in public on political issues. Stewart is known for four powerful speeches she delivered in Boston in the early 1830’s. This was a time when no woman, black or white, dared to speak to an audience from a public platform. Maria Stewart’s essays and speeches presented original ideals. These ideas became central to the struggles for African American freedom. They also championed human rights and women rights. In 1987, Indiana University Press published a collected edition of her work, Maria W. Stewart, America’s First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches