Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911) was an African American lecturer, suffragist, and writer. Her book of antislavery verse, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854), sold thousands of copies. Her "The Two Offers" (1859) was the first short story published by an African American.  

She was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She married Fenton Harper in 1860. She headed the African American department of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She had a hand in organizing the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and became the organization's vice president. She died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

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Category:Writers from Maryland
Category:1825 births
Category:1911 deaths
Category:African-American writers
Category:American activists