Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Contributions

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a unique and vital character in American history. She played an imperative role in the equality and advancement of not just African-American women, but women in general. Although she was born a free women in Maryland she had an unparalleled knack for describing and capturing the evils and horrors of slavery. She wrote a plethora of novels, short stories and poems. In her early years she taught in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, after leaving teaching she left teaching to lecture for the Maine Anti-slavery society along with other anti-slavery organizations. She also worked to help fugitive slaves escape to Canada through the Underground Railroad. Frances E. W. Harper was an impeccable writer and human being, she made unmatched contributions to history through her works as an equal rights activist and beautifully captures the identity of

The descriptions and words used create the most vivid images of a mother’s escape to freedom with her son. This poem takes you on both a physical and emotional journey as it unravels through the treacherous demands of freedom. A beautiful example of her ability to rhyme both internally as well as externally can be seen here,
“She was nerved by despair, and strength’d by woe,
As she leap’d o’er the chasms that yawn’d from below;
Death howl’d in the tempest, and rav’d in the blast,
But she heard not the sound till the danger was past.” (13-16).

Not only is this a beautiful example of her rhyme but also a great illustration of her ability to imagine and recreate a scene, it feels as though you yourself are leaping and bounding to freedom as you read this. In lines 17-20 a questioning of how she will define herself once she escapes arises, she asks if she can truly call herself an American. Beautifully saying,
“How say that her banner in mockery waves-
Her ‘star-spangled banner’- o’er millions of slaves?”