Drawing on letters, personal testimony, works of art, novels and historic Black newspapers, this book is an interdisciplinary exploration of Black women's contributions to the intellectual life of nineteenth century America.
* Argument incorporates a wide range of sources
* Interdisciplinary in approach
* Synthesizes existing scholarship whilst bringing a fresh perspective
Dr. Rebecca J. Fraser is an associate professor of American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia, UK. Her previous books have included Courtship and Love among the Enslaved in North Carolina (2007) and Gender, Race and Family in Nineteenth-Century America: From Northern Woman to Plantation Mistress (2012).
1. Introduction: Searching for Black Female Intellectuals in Nineteenth Century America 2. Citizenship Divas of Nineteenth Century America: Black Female Intellectuals and the Complexities of Performance 3. I Must Speak, I Must Think, I Must Act. [Laura Simmes, 1864]: The Christian Recorder, Literary Activism, and the Black Female Intellectual 4. The Darling Offspring of Her Brain. [Harriet Powers, c. 1892]: Creativity, Quiet Activism, and Nineteenth Century Black Female Artist as Intellectuals 5. Oh Yea, Daughters of Africa, awake! Awake! Arise [Maria W. Stewart, 1831]: Nineteenth Century Black Nationalism and Questions of Gender, Race & Home 6. Labor Advantageously in the Field [Edmonia G. Highgate, 1864]: Black Female Educators and the Philosophy of Racial Uplift 7. Conclusion: The Realities of Life (and Death) for the Nineteenth Century Black Female Intellectual