D. Elisabeth Glassco
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was a household name in the 19th century—easily as prominent as Frederick Douglass. In an age, when Black people were routinely diminished as intellectually lacking, she was the 1st Black American woman to publish a short story, was an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and lecturer.
“You white women speak here of rights,” she said. “I speak of wrongs.” —Francis Harper, May 8, 1866
#BlackMastodon #Maryland #BlackJoy #BlackTwitter #Histodons #History
Cindy Weinstein
@Deglassco. #DerrickSpires has this beautiful essay on #Harper et al: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/question-of-time/i-read-my-mission-as-twere-a-book-temporality-and-form-in-the-early-african-american-serial-sketch-tradition/AD7D38CE057DFEFBD1AB941FBB45D6E8
Vayl Larkin (they/them)
@Deglassco I love her work, as well as that of Douglas of course. Also really appreciate the intellectual tenor and brilliant use of language by Sojourner Truth, (tragically twisted into a racist trope by white feminists). Her unaltered work is amazing, and even when they mangled it, they couldn't eliminate the power of her ideas. Thank you for posting this! <3
clacke
@VaylLarkinPoet Where can I learn more about how it has been misused?
NoctisEqui 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇪🇹
Fascinating and good to know. We have so many unknown heroines and heroes. As public education fails, places like Masto and posts like these may be the only ways we learn our history.
Thank you for this.
BruceToman
@Deglassco thanks for making me aware of her! she's got a wikipedia article -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ellen_Watkins_Harper
Vayl Larkin (they/them)
@clacke @Deglassco I would begin with a Black-authored piece on her life and work. Her most famous speech has been titled "Ain't I A Woman", by white feminists. However, her original language was corrupted by these white women to make it sound "ignorant" to readers. Her original speech began something more like, "Am I not a woman?", and so forth. They hid her education and skill to reduce her chances of being a strong representative for her people in the public sphere.
Vayl Larkin (they/them)
@clacke @Deglassco I am sorry I can't recommend something specific off-hand, but I was lucky enough to be taught a lot of this by individuals with expertise, and didn't originally read it.
clacke
@VaylLarkinPoet Wow. Thank you.
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