A Lydia Maria Child ReaderFrom the 1820s to the 1870s, Lydia Maria Child was as familiar to the American public as her Thanksgiving song, "Over the river and through the wood, / To grandfather's house we go," remains today. Hardly a sphere of nineteenth-century life can be found in which Child did not figure prominently as a pathbreaker. She crusaded against slavery and racism, combated religious bigotry, championed women's rights, publicized the plight of the urban poor, and campaigned for justice toward Native Americans. Showing an uncanny ability to pinpoint and respond to new cultural needs, Child pioneered almost every category of nineteenth-century American letters--historical fiction, the short story, children's literature, the domestic advice book, women's history, antislavery fiction, journalism, and the literature of aging. This rich collection is the first to represent the full range of Child's contributions as a literary innovator, social reformer, and progressive thinker over a career spanning six decades. It features stories, editorials, articles, and letters to politicians culled from rare newspapers and periodicals and never before published in book form; extracts from her trailblazing childrearing manual, history of women, and primer for the emancipated slaves; and a generous sampling of her best-known writings on slavery, the Indian question, poverty, and women's rights. Witty, incisive, and often daringly unconventional, Child's writings open a panoramic window on nineteenth-century American culture while addressing issues still relevant to our own time. In this anthology, the editor of Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl reemerges in her own right as one of the nation's greatest prophets. |
Contents
Suggestions for Classroom Use and Explanation | 20 |
Introduction | 97 |
Extracts from Management during the Teens | 112 |
Copyright | |
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A-lee-lah Abenaki abolition abolitionism abolitionists African American Alerik American Anti-Slavery Society asked beautiful Boston British brother called Catharine Maria Sedgwick character Christian church Civil colored emancipation excited exclaimed eyes feeling Frederick Douglass freedom friends Garrison girl hand heard heart Hilda Hobomok human Indian influence Jumbo Juvenile Miscellany lady laws Letters from New-York lived look Louisa Lydia Maria Child Massachusetts masters Milton Meltzer mind moral mother National Anti-Slavery Standard nature negro never Norridgewock Otoolpha party political poor prejudice prison Quaker religion religious replied reprinted Saint seemed sister slaveholders slavery slaves smile society soul South southern speak spirit story tell thee things Thomas Wentworth Higginson thou thought tion told tribe Uncle George Virginia vote Wharton wife William William Lloyd Garrison Willie woman women York young Zairee