Baltimore, Maryland (September 24, 1825 -February 22, 1911) age 85 yrs

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, born free, was a poet, teacher, activist, public speaker, and writer. In her teens, her love of learning was nurtured by her employer, who owned a bookstore and encouraged her reading. As she grew up, she watched slave laws become more repressive. She began to speak about the inhumanity of slavery and wrote extensively on the topic. Harper taught at Union Seminary in Ohio and began a lecturing career in 1894. From 1856 to 1860, she spoke for the Anti-Slavery Society in Maine. After emancipation, she continued to tour. She spoke on behalf of equal rights for newly freed slaves. Harper founded the National Association of Colored Women. Her many poems and her novel “Iola Leroy” serve as emotionally charged snapshots of the South during Reconstruction.