Lydia Marie Child

Lydia Marie Child

Lydia Marie Child was born on February 11, 1802 and died on October 20, 1880. During her life she wrote in many forms and on various topics, but Lydia was more than just a writer. She wrote short stories, biographies, science fiction, serialized fiction, children’s literature, historical novels and antislavery literature (Karcher 6). She was also a journalist and a feminist, and wrote about the American Revolution and Native Americans. She helped Harriot Jacobson escape slavery, encouraged reform and was an abolitionist. But, before she could help others, Lydia had to fight for her own right to advance and succeed. Lydia was born in Medford, Massachusetts, as the sixth and youngest child of Convers and Susannah Francis. Susannah died when Lydia was twelve, and she was sent to live with a married sister until the age of nineteen. Although Mr. Francis encouraged the intellectual advancement of his sons, he discouraged his daughter, Lydia, from her fondness for books (Myerson 5). Lydia continued to read and learn, without her father’s encouragement or help, an...