Kristin Waters
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781496836748
- eISBN:
- 9781496836731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496836748.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
In this introduction, Waters discusses the scope of this book. Exploring the life and thought of Maria W. Stewart, Waters considers first Stewart’s earliest years, then her move from Hartford to ...
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In this introduction, Waters discusses the scope of this book. Exploring the life and thought of Maria W. Stewart, Waters considers first Stewart’s earliest years, then her move from Hartford to Boston, and examine closely the most intellectually productive time in the life of a woman whose journey took her from indentured servitude to recognition as a writer, speaker, thinker, and political philosopher. Waters reveals the methodology used in her research.Less
In this introduction, Waters discusses the scope of this book. Exploring the life and thought of Maria W. Stewart, Waters considers first Stewart’s earliest years, then her move from Hartford to Boston, and examine closely the most intellectually productive time in the life of a woman whose journey took her from indentured servitude to recognition as a writer, speaker, thinker, and political philosopher. Waters reveals the methodology used in her research.
Kristin Waters
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781496836748
- eISBN:
- 9781496836731
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496836748.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
In 1833 Maria W. Stewart told a gathering at the African Masonic Hall on Boston’s Beacon Hill, “African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in ...
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In 1833 Maria W. Stewart told a gathering at the African Masonic Hall on Boston’s Beacon Hill, “African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States.” She held that the founding principles of the United States must extend to all people, otherwise they are merely the hypocritical expression of an ungodly white power. This first-ever biography of a profoundly significant writer explores her early life as an indentured servant in Hartford, Connecticut. Later, she defied adversity, journeying to Boston where she met and married a wealthy commercial agent and former seaman and became a powerful force within the lively black community on Beacon Hill’s North Slope. Between 1831-1833 Stewart’s “intellectual productions” ranged across topics including true emancipation for African Americans, abolition, the hypocrisy of white Christianity, black liberation theology, and gender inequity. Along with David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, (1829), her body of work constitutes a significant foundation for black radical politics.Less
In 1833 Maria W. Stewart told a gathering at the African Masonic Hall on Boston’s Beacon Hill, “African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States.” She held that the founding principles of the United States must extend to all people, otherwise they are merely the hypocritical expression of an ungodly white power. This first-ever biography of a profoundly significant writer explores her early life as an indentured servant in Hartford, Connecticut. Later, she defied adversity, journeying to Boston where she met and married a wealthy commercial agent and former seaman and became a powerful force within the lively black community on Beacon Hill’s North Slope. Between 1831-1833 Stewart’s “intellectual productions” ranged across topics including true emancipation for African Americans, abolition, the hypocrisy of white Christianity, black liberation theology, and gender inequity. Along with David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, (1829), her body of work constitutes a significant foundation for black radical politics.
Nazera Sadiq Wright
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040573
- eISBN:
- 9780252099014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040573.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter examines the first writings of black women about girlhood during the antebellum era, with particular emphasis on the trope of the self-reliant black girl in the face of adversity. After ...
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This chapter examines the first writings of black women about girlhood during the antebellum era, with particular emphasis on the trope of the self-reliant black girl in the face of adversity. After reviewing representations of black girlhood in early American children's print culture, the chapter turns to some of the first short stories and full-length books by black women that centered on the lives of black girls. Focusing on the work of Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, and Maria W. Stewart along with an abolitionist text imported from England, it considers how black women writers distinguished between youthful girlhood and knowing girlhood to challenge the prevailing attitude on southern plantations that black girls were valuable solely for their future fecundity and economic potential. By revealing the qualities and behaviors exhibited by black girls across literary genres, black women writers showed that black girls were capable of seeking their own fate.Less
This chapter examines the first writings of black women about girlhood during the antebellum era, with particular emphasis on the trope of the self-reliant black girl in the face of adversity. After reviewing representations of black girlhood in early American children's print culture, the chapter turns to some of the first short stories and full-length books by black women that centered on the lives of black girls. Focusing on the work of Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, and Maria W. Stewart along with an abolitionist text imported from England, it considers how black women writers distinguished between youthful girlhood and knowing girlhood to challenge the prevailing attitude on southern plantations that black girls were valuable solely for their future fecundity and economic potential. By revealing the qualities and behaviors exhibited by black girls across literary genres, black women writers showed that black girls were capable of seeking their own fate.