Frances E.W. Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a black woman born on September 24, 1825 in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S. to free parents. Raised by her aunt and uncle, Reverend William Watkins, she attended the Free School for Colored Children until she was thirteen.

Frances E.W. Harper published her first anthology of prose and poetry entitled Forest Leaves around 1845.

In 1894 she became director for the American Association of Education of Colored Youth and helped organize the National Association of Colored Women. Frances Harper was made a vice-president of the NACW in 1897. A selection of her poetry entitled, Poems was published as part of the Black Heritage Library Collection in 1895.

Poems

• My Mother's Kiss
• A Grain of Sand
• The Crocuses
• The Present Age
• Dedication Poem
• A Double Standard
• Our Hero
• The Dying Bondman
• A Little Child Shall Lead Them
• The Sparrow's Fall
• God Bless Our Native Land
• Dandelions
• The Building
• Home, Sweet Home
• The Pure in Heart Shall See God
• He Had Not Where to Lay His Head
• Go Work in My Vineyard
• Renewal of Strength
• Jamie's Puzzle
• Truth
• Death of the Old Sea King
• Save the Boys
• Nothing and Something
• Vashti
• Thank God for Little Children
• The Martyr of Alabama
• The Night of Death
• Mother's Treasures
• The Refiner's Gold
• A Story of the Rebellion
• Burial of Sarah
• Going East
• The Hermit's Sacrifice
• Songs for the People
• Let the Light Enter
• An Appeal to My Country Women
• Then and Now
• Maceo
• Fishers of Men
• The Lost Bells
• "Do Not Cheer, Men Are Dying," Said Capt. Phillips, in the Spanish-American War
• The Burdens of All

Frances E.W. Harper died on February 22, 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Sources:

Classical Authors Directory:

http://authorsdirectory.com

The Underground Railroad Site:

http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/contents.htm