Frances E. W. Harper and the Politics of Intellectual Maturity in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World

Frances E. W. Harper is widely recognized as the leading African American poet of the nineteenth century and one of the few black women to rise to prominence in both white and black dominated women's organizations. This paper will explore how Harper drew upon a unique definition of Christian adulthood to win respect for the political capacity of black women. Drawing upon African Methodist Episcopal and Unitarian traditions, and responding to a transatlantic debate about the significance of dependency, social evolution, and imperialism, Harper argued that Christian maturity required respecting the rights of formerly enslaved black women in the American South who, though lacking in education, wealth, and political power, were the wisest and most capable of citizens.