On this day, the "Bronze Muse" died in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote more
than a dozen books, including 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects'(1854);
'Moses, a Story of the Nile'(1869);and 'Sketches of Southern Life'(1872).
Harper was the most famous female poet of her day and the most famous
African-American poet of the 19th century. Also a well-known orator,
she spoke frequently in public(sometimes twice in one day)promoting
equal rights for women and African-Americans. She
was a worker for the Underground Railroad, and in 1896 she helped
establish the National Association of Colored Women.