Frances Ellen (Watkins) Harper (abt. 1825 - 1911)

Born about 1825 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Wife of Fenton M Harper — married 22 Nov 1860 in Hamilton, Ohio, United States

Died 20 Feb 1911 at about age 86 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Frances (Watkins) Harper is Notable.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African-American abolitionist, suffragist, poet and author. She was also active in other types of social reform and was a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which advocated the federal government taking a role in progressive reform.^[1]

Frances Ellen Watkins was born free in Baltimore, Maryland in about 1825. She was the only child of her mother,^[2] Sidney Watkins.^[3] One biographical account from Philadelphia's The Daily Evening Telegraph in 1867 said that Sidney had been born enslaved but her freedom had been purchased by her mother.^[4] Frances was orphaned in the first few years of her life, and afterwards, was raised by her uncle, Rev. William Watkins in Baltimore. He ran a school for free Black children there, so Frances went to school there until she was about 13. At that point, she went to work,^[2] earning a living by sewing and teaching. While employed by Mrs. Isaac Cruise, who had a large library, she was able to indulge her love of literature. Around this time, she began writing both poetry and prose. In the 1850's, she briefly taught in Ohio, then in Little York, Pennsylvania, then began travelling around the country giving lectures on abolition. She continued to write and had several works published.^[4][2]

Frances married Fenton M Harper on 22 Nov 1860 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.^[2][5] They had one daughter, Mary,^[3][6] and lived on a small farm near Columbus, Ohio. During her marriage, Frances's writing and lecturing career slowed down.^[4][2] Fenton died in 1864. After his death, Frances and Mary moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she lived for the rest of her life.^[7] Frances continued writing and speaking. After slavery ended in the United States, her focus turned from abolition to temperance and other issues important to Black women.^[8]

Frances died on February 22, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[9] Her funeral service was held at the Unitarian Church on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.^[10] She was buried in Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, next to her daughter, who had died two years before.^[6]

Mrs. F.E.W. Harper

• Emily Mandraker[?]
• Parker N Bailey of Washington, D.C.
• Jas. L. Bailey
• Frances A. Gaskins of Washington, D.C.
• Mary E. Hare of Boston, Massachusetts

Career

Harper had a long and prolific career, publishing her first book of poetry at the age of 20 and her widely praised novel Iola Leroy at the age of 67. In 1850, she became the first woman to teach sewing at the Union Seminary, an Ohio-based school for free African Americans. In 1851, alongside William Still, chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, she helped escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada. She began her career as a public speaker and political activist after joining the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853.^[12]

Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) became her biggest commercial success. Her short story Two Offers was published in the Anglo-African in 1859. She published Sketches of Southern Life in 1872. It detailed her experience touring the South and meeting newly freed Black people. In these poems she described the harsh living conditions of many. After the Civil War she continued to fight for the rights of women, African Americans, and many other social causes.^[12]

Harper helped or held high office in several national progressive organizations. In 1883 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women's Christian Temperance Union. In 1894 she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president.^[12]

Time Line

• 1845
  Frances Watkins had her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, published in 1845 when she was 20.^[12]
• 1859
  In 1859, her story "The Two Offers" was published in Anglo-African Magazine, making her the first Black woman to publish a short story.^[12]
• 1860
  Frances Harper married Fenton Harper in 1860.^[5]
• 1872
  She published Sketches of Southern Life in 1872.^[12]
• 1883
  In 1883 she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women's Christian Temperance Union.^[12]
• 1911
  Harper died on February 22, 1911, nine years before women gained the right to vote.^[9]

Legacy and Honors

Numerous African-American women's service clubs are named in her honor. Across the nation, in cities such as St. Louis, St. Paul, and Pittsburgh, F. E. W. Harper Leagues and Frances E. Harper Women's Christian Temperance Unions thrived well into the twentieth century.^[13]

A women's honors dormitory named for her and Harriet Tubman at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, is commonly referred to as Harper-Tubman, or simply Harper.

An excerpt from her poem Bury Me in a Free Land is on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The excerpt reads, "I ask no monument, proud and high to arrest the gaze of the passers-by; all that my yearning spirit craves is bury me not in a land of slaves."^[14]

Statue of Frances E. Watkins Harper.

Her poem Bury Me in a Free Land was recited in the film August 28: A Day in the Life of a People, which debuted at the opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016.^[15][14][16]

There is a memorial on the grounds of the Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that consists of a pedestal inscribed with "one hundred names of change agents who pursued the power of suffrage and citizenship between 1870 and 1920." ^[17] Around the pedestal, there are statues of four great abolitionist orators. Frances Ellen (Watkins) Harper is one of these four.^[18] See the 100 Voices Project.

Research Notes

• The following 1850 census record was previously attached to this profile. It was probably the source for the creation of a profile for a 'brother,' Thos Watkins (1820-). Although the Frances in this record is the right age living in the right location, the census record says she can't read or write, when this Frances was definitely able to read and write at the age of 25 - she was already publishing at that point.^[2] At least one source said she was an only child^[2] and she wasn't married at that time, so it doesn't seem like this census record matches this Frances Watkins.
  • "1850 U.S. Federal Population Census," Name Frances Watkins|Age 25|Birth Year 1825|Birthplace Maryland|Home in 1850 District 2, Baltimore, Maryland, USA|Race Mulatto| Gender Female|Family Number 2488|Members in Household|National Archives and Records Administration http://www.archives.gov/
  • (same as above with Ancestry Link) 1850 Census: "1850 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1850; Census Place: District 2, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 279; Page: 179a; Line Number: 31
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8054 #17604288 (accessed 4 September 2022)
    Frances Watkins (25) in District 2, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Born in Maryland.
• Note that this 1850 census from Ohio is likely her, as other sources state she went to Ohio briefly to teach before going to Pennsylvania. This census was taken on 1 Sep 1850, and the Maryland one 30 Nov 1850, so there is still a chance they could be the same person. 1850 Census: "1850 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1850; Census Place: Columbus Ward 2, Franklin, Ohio; Roll: 679; Page: 335a; Line Number: 6
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8054 #13601998 (accessed 4 September 2022)
  Francis Watkins (25) in Columbus Ward 2, Franklin, Ohio, USA. Born in Maryland.
  • Melick-229 17:29, 4 September 2022 (UTC): I'm not sure this is the right census record either. Several sources say that she didn't leave Baltimore until 1851^[2][19] and that she taught at Union Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio (this seminary later became Payne Theological Seminary. Wilberforce isn't close enough to Columbus for her to be living there at the same time. That Columbus, Ohio census record also says she can't read or write.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Harper
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} Still, William. The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872). "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper," page 755-780, with portrait on page 748; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/DKC0088 : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874," NARA Washington D.C. record group 101; Registers of Signatures of Depositors 1865-1874; Roll 17: New York, New York, Feb 20, 1871-Jul 6, 1874; No. 3739, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 15 Dec 1871; database with images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry Sharing Link, Ancestry Record 8755 #233392 (accessed 4 September 2022).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} "National Salvation," The Daily Evening Telegraph [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], 1 Feb 1867, page 8; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37094603/frances-harper-national-salvation-addr/ : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Ohio, Hamilton County, Marriage Records, Volume 25, page 240, Fenton M. Harper and Frances E. Watkins, 22 Nov 1860; "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZXY-P5X : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "U.S. Find A Grave Index," Frances Ellen Harper, born 24 Sep 1825, died 20 Feb 1911, Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States of America; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6651217
7. ↑ "Nomination of Historic Building...Philadelphia Historical Commission," 1006 Bainbridge Street, Nominator: Philadelphia Historical Commission, 2021; image copy, City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Historical Commission (https://www.phila.gov/media/20210514130321/1006-Bainbridge-St-nomination.pdf : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
8. ↑ "Has Done Much For Her Race," Boston Daily Globe [Massachusetts], 30 Aug 1894, page 4, column 7; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69709532/frances-e-w-harper-1894/ : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, #19492, Frances E W Harper, 22 Feb 1911, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; "Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1968," database with images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry Sharing Link, Ancestry Record 5164 #1620617 (accessed 4 September 2022).
10. ↑ Frances E W Harper death notice, The Philadelphia [Pennsylvania] Inquirer, 23 Feb 1911, page 7, column 3; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108900471/ : accessed 4 Sep 2022).
11. ↑ "Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993" Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, No. 487 Frances E W Harper probate on 1 Mar 1912; Ancestry Sharing Link, Ancestry Record 8802 #2482422 (accessed 4 September 2022).
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6} Needs source.
13. ↑ Gates, Henry Louis; McKay, Nellie Y. (1996). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 491. ISBN 978-0-393-04001-2.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Keyes, Allison (2017). "In This Quiet Space for Contemplation, a Fountain Rains Down Calming Waters". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
15. ↑ Davis, Rachaell (September 22, 2016). "Why Is August 28 So Special To Black People? Ava DuVernay Reveals All In New NMAAHC Film". Essence.
16. ↑ "Ava Duvernay's 'August 28' Delves Into Just How Monumental That Date Is To Black History In America". Bustle.com. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
17. ↑ https://digitalharrisburg.com/commonwealth/100names/
18. ↑ https://digitalharrisburg.com/commonwealth/
19. ↑ "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper," National Women's History Museum, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/frances-ellen-watkins-harper : accessed 4 Sep 2022.

See also:

• Kate Clarke Lemay and Martha S. Jones, "The hidden story of two African-American women looking out from the pages of a 19th-century book," The Conversation, 9 Sep 2019, https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-story-of-two-african-american-women-looking-out-from-the-pages-of-a-19th-century-book-118243
• Tricia Williams Jacson (2016). "Women in Black History - Stories of Courage, Faith, and Resilience", "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper" page 59. Grand Rapids, MI:Published by Revell
• WikiTree: 100 Voices Project.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LC39-QYT

Photo of statue, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.