Tag: educators

educators
Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Feminists

Julia Ward Howe

• Maggie

One of the First Feminists in the United States Julia Ward Howe, little known today except as author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, was famous in her lifetime as a poet, essayist, lecturer, reformer and biographer. She worked to end slavery, helped to initiate the women’s movement in many states, and organized for international peace – all at a time, she noted, “when to do so was a thankless office, involving public ridicule and private avoidance.” Image: Portrait of Julia Ward Howe By John Elliott and William Henry Cotton Julia Ward was born in New York City on May 27, 1819, the fourth of seven children born to Samuel Ward and Julia Rush Cutler Ward. Her father was…

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Civil War Women, Feminists

Martha Wright

• Maggie

Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Activist Martha Wright was a feminist and abolitionist in the Civil War Era, and sister of women’s rights leader Lucretia Mott. In July 1848, while Mott was visiting Martha’s home in Auburn, New York, the sisters met with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in nearby Seneca Falls to discuss the need for greater rights for women. Within a few weeks, they held the First Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Image: Public relations portrait of Wright that was used in the book, History of Woman Suffrage, by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Volume I, published in 1881. Martha Coffin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1806, the youngest of eight children born to Quakers…

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Civil War Women, Women in Religion

Henriette Delille

• Maggie

Black History Month: Creole Nun Henriette DeLille (1813–1862) founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family, made up of free women of color in New Orleans. The order provided nursing care and a home for orphans, later establishing schools as well. In 1989 the order formally opened its cause with the Vatican in the canonization of Henriette DeLille. Henriette Delille was born in 1812 in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a life of privilege. Her father, Jean-Baptiste (de Lille) Lille Sarpy (French/Italian) was born in 1762 in France; her mother, Marie-Josèphe Díaz, a free quadroon Creole of color of French, Spanish and African ancestry, was born in New Orleans. Delille’s parents were Catholic, as were most Creoles and…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Educators

Edmonia Highgate

• Maggie

Teacher of Former Slaves in the South Teaching in the South during the Reconstruction era (1865-1877) took great courage. The women who traveled there to teach often feared for their lives but were determined to empower the freed slaves through literacy. Image: The Misses Cooke’s school room, Freedman’s Bureau, Richmond, Va. In Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1866 Nov. 17, Library of Congress Edmonia Highgate, the daughter of freed slaves, was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1844. She graduated from high school with honors, taught for a year in Montrose, Pennsylvania, and then became principal of a black school in Binghamton, New York. She was one of the many upstate New Yorkers who responded to the appeal to aid those…

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Civil War Women, Women Artists

Clover Adams

• Maggie

Washington DC Socialite and Photographer Clover Adams was a socialite, an active hostess in Washington, DC society, an accomplished amateur photographer, and one of the earliest portrait photographers in the United States. Her work was widely admired, but her husband, historian Henry Adams, would not allow her to become a professional and discouraged any publication of her work. Image: Clover Adams on horseback at Beverly Farms, October 1869 The photo shown here is the only known adult photograph of Clover; no close–up picture of her face exists. After her death, Henry Adams destroyed all of her photos in their home, and neither her father nor her family had ever received a picture of Clover’s face. (Marian) Clover Hooper was born…

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Civil War Women, Diaries and Letters

Caroline Cowles Richards

• Maggie

Civil War Civilian and Diarist The journal Caroline Richards started when she was 10, parallels a young girl growing up as the nation did too. Although raised by a Puritan grandmother, she was blessed with both humor and the intelligence to think for herself. When Richards heard Susan B. Anthony speak, she signed a pledge to help bring about equal rights for women. And during the Civil War, she sent a letter of support to General McClellan when he was criticized. Image: Caroline Cowles Richards in 1860 Caroline Cowles Richards was born in a small town in upstate New York in 1842 and was raised by her grandparents. Her grandmother, a very religious woman, held true to her Puritan family…

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Authors, Civil War Women

Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Maggie

American Abolitionist and Author Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African American slaves in the mid-nineteenth century, which energized anti-slavery forces in the North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She wrote more than 20 books, and was influential both for her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day. Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811. She was the second daughter the sixth of eleven children born to outspoken religious leader Lyman Beecher and Roxanna Foote Beecher, who died when Stowe was only four years old. Harriet’s oldest sister, Catherine Beecher, then took over care of…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Susan Landon Vaughan

• Maggie

Founder of Decoration Day Image: Confederate Monument This monument on the grounds of the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi sits about 60 feet high with a life-sized statue of a Confederate soldier on top of it. Inside the monument is a plaque that reads: It reeks not where their bodies lie By bloody hillside, plains or cave; Their names are bright on famous skies, Their deeds of valor live forever. Decoration Day Originated in Jackson, Mississippi, April 26, 1865 By Sue Landon Vaughn Susan Hutchinson Adams was born on October 12, 1835, in St. Charles, Missouri, on the Missouri River northwest of St Louis. She and her sister Sallie were the daughters of John and Margaret Ann Gill Adams….

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Civil War Women

Bennett Place

• Maggie

Confederate Surrender in North Carolina In 1846 at age 40, James Bennett, his wife Nancy and their three children settled on a 325-acre farm in north-central North Carolina that came to be known as Bennett Place. The family grew corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes, and raised hogs. James was also a tailor, cobbler, and sold horse feed, tobacco plugs and distilled liquor. Image: The First Meeting At Bennett Place Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (left center) and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (right center) met in the waning days of the Civil War to formally end hostilities. On April 15, 2010, Bennett Place State Historic Site unveiled this 44″ X 64″ oil painting by Civil War artist Dan Nance, which…

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Abolitionists, Activists, Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Hannah Ropes

• Maggie

Head Matron at Union Hotel Hospital When her husband abandoned her, Hannah Ropes did not despair. She raised her two children, became an abolitionist and activist for social reform. She volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War and used her prominent social position to obtain enormous amounts of supplies for ill and wounded soldiers. Early Years Hannah Anderson Chandler was born June 13, 1809, in New Gloucester, Maine, the daughter and sister of prominent Maine lawyers. Hannah developed strong beliefs during her early years. Her religious faith was very strong, and she was passionately opposed to slavery. Hannah married educator William Ropes in 1834; they lived in Waltham, Massachusetts. Hannah gave birth to four children, two of whom lived…

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