description: John Greenleaf Whittier was a Quaker who opposed slavery and other injustices in his writing. As the voice of the New England villager and farmer prior to industrialization, his work portrays an important period in American history. Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an American biographer and historian, born in 1823. He was educated at Harvard University. He was pastor of a Congregational church at Newburyport, Massachusetts for three years after graduation, and from 1852 to 1858 he had charge of a free church in Worcester. He then devoted himself to literature. He was from the first an active participant in the anti-slavery agitation, aided in organizing parties of Free-State settlers in Kansas, and served as brigadier-general in the Free-State forces. During the Civil War he served in a Massachusetts regiment, and as colonel of the 33rd United States colored troops, the first regiment of slaves mustered into the United States service. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1880-81, and from 1881 to 1883 a member of the State Board of Education.
language: English
title: John Greenleaf Whittier
titlecomplete: John Greenleaf Whittier
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Univ Pr of the Pacific