Early African American women writers have contributed enormously to societal progression, spiritual narratives, the empowerment of women, and the presentation of the unknown brutalities faced by African American women during slavery. These courageous women spoke on topics such as slavery and spirituality with zeal and proficiency. The plight of being an African American women, pursuing a literary career or trying to be recognized as a human being, warranted literacy, confidence, and self-determination. Unlike African American men, African American women during slavery, were faced with countless obstacles. Black women were subject to s**ual exploitation, more likely to be caught in attempts to escape, and women had more responsibilities, doing field work as well as domestic chores. Black female writers during slavery are entitled to receive a high degree of admiration and respect. Their ability to give great literary contributions and debunked the idea of slavery not only makes them human beings but, geniuses.
1819: Jarena Lee was the first woman allowed to preach by Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was able to preach on the “itinerary circuit” and held prayer meetings in her home.
*Except: Isabella van Wagener, also known as, Sojourner Truth is freed. She begins to preach against slavery throughout New York and New England.
1831: Mary Prince's “The History of Mary Prince” is published. Her autobiography was the first published by a black woman in the United Kingdom.
*Excerpt: The first women's anti-slavery society is formed in Salem, Ma**achusetts.
1832: Maria W. Stewart gives the lecture, “Why Sit Ye Here and Die?” This lecture was delivered on September 21, 1832, at the Franklin Hall, Boston, to the New England Anti-Slavery Society.
*Excerpt: “Come let us plead our cause before the whites: if they save us alive, we shall live--and if they k** us, we shall but die.”
1838: Elleanor Eldridge writes her Memoirs, which solidifies her as an entrepreneur. Eldridge received the title, notably for her savvy and sk**s she ama**ed as a servant.
*Excerpt: Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.
1850: Fugitive Slave Acts are pa**ed. This led to thousands of slaves entering free slave states.
*Excerpt: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published.
1851: Mary Ann Shadd publishes “A Plea for Emigration or Notes of Canada West”. Shadd issuing of “A Plea for Emigration or Notes of Canada West” was the result of the intense pressure of the Fugitive Slave Act on African American slaves.
*Excerpt: The Women's NY Temperance Society is formed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton
1854: Francis Ellen Watkins publishes “Poems and Miscellaneous Subjects”. It sold more than 10,000 copies and included a preface by William Lloyd Garrison.
*Excerpt: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, Martha Coffin Pelham Wright, and Ernestine Rose found The American Equal Rights Association
1861: Harriet Jacobs “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is published. Her autobiography is one of the few accounts of the s**ual abuse African American women faced during slavery.
*Excerpt: President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.