American Feminist Literature

American Feminist Literature Greta Ertzgard, Katie Kloos, And Laura Hungerford

The Importance of American Feminist Writers… • Books added to reform movements…like that of women’s suffrage and independence • Shed light on subjects like abuse, tolerance, individuality, equality, etc. • Influenced other women to write

Feminist Writers… • Maya Angelou • Lorraine Hansberry • Harriet Beecher Stowe • Louisa May Alcott

Maya Angelou • Born: April 4, 1928 • Parents divorced when she was 3 and she and her brother were sent to live with her grandmother in Arkansas. • Visiting her mother and her boyfriend • High School (scholarship, dropped out, pregnant) • Guy • At age 16 she left home with her son and worked as a waitress to raise her son. • She still had a passion for dance, music, and drama.

Maya Angelou (cont.) • Married Tosh Angelou, the marriage did not last long. • Maya Angelou was the name she used when she started singing at a nightclub. • First album in 1957 • Moved to New York to work on writing • Very involved with Civil Right Movements (Martin Luther King Jr.) • I Know why the Caged Bird Sings: Arkansas- Guy • National Figure

Lorraine Hansberry • May 19, 1930- January 12, 1965 • Parents active in civil rights • 1938 move to new neighborhood • University of Wisconsin • Freedom the newspaper • Robert Nemiroff

Lorraine Hansberry (cont.) • Writing • The Raisin in the Sun • Cancer • divorce

Harriet Beecher Stowe • 1811-1896 • Most famous work: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

What People Influenced Her Life • Harriet’s family of abolitionists definitely influenced her • Her father was a minister, president of Lane Theological Seminary, was strong in his faith and believed in education • Youngest sister, Isabella, was involved in the suffrage movement • Catharine Beecher (sister) had a huge impact. She founded schools for young women and was an author

Who influenced Harriet (cont.) • Husband Calvin Stowe supported her writing (unusual for her time). He was also a minister. • “God has written in His book that you must be a literary woman, and who are we to go against God?” -Calvin Stowe

Events that inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Civil War tension • Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 • Death of Harriet’s son, Charley, in 1850

Louisa May Alcott • 1832-1888 • 19th century writer of Little Women

Louisa May Alcott • Born: November 29, 1832 in Germantown, PA • Had three sisters…Anna, Elizabeth, and May • Educated by her father, a transcendentalist, and her mother, a well-known abolitionist, suffragist, and the first paid social worker in MA • Grew up in Boston and Concord because of her parents transcendentalist friends • Tomboy…

A passion for writing… • Began story-telling with her sisters • She would always play the vivacious characters • Family’s poverty caused her to vow to help them out with her story-telling • Had many jobs to support her family • 1st works published in magazines • Themes included family relationships, self-reliance, and perseverance

Alcott… (cont.) Famous Works Influences Experiences as a nurse during the Civil War, at Union Hospital Growing up with her sisters Family poverty • 1st book- Flowers and Fables (1854) • Hospital Sketches • Most well-known book, Little Women, written when her publisher requested her to write a “book for girls”

Works Cited • http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE42&NewItemID=True • http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/life/#writer • http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE42&NewItemID=True • www.mayaangelou.com • http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ang0bio-1 • http://womenshistory.about.com/odlaframewriters/p/hansberry.htm • http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/lorrainehnsberry/p/bio_hansberry_1.tm

American Feminist Literature