|
Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten Grimké (August 17, 1837 – July 23, 1914) was an African-American anti-slavery activist, poet, and educator. She grew up in a prominent abolitionist family in Philadelphia. She taught school for years, including during the war to freedmen in South Carolina. Later in life she married Francis James Grimké, a Presbyterian minister who led a major church in Washington, DC for decades. He was a nephew of the abolitionist Grimké sisters and active in civil rights. Her diaries written before the end of the Civil War have been published in numerous editions in the 20th century and are significant as a rare record of the life of a free black woman in the North in the antebellum years. ==Early life and education== Forten, known as "Lottie," was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Mary Virginia Wood (1815-1840) and Robert Bridges Forten (1813-1864), members of the prominent black Forten-Purvis clan of Philadelphia. Robert Forten and his brother-in-law Robert Purvis were abolitionists and members of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, an anti-slavery network that rendered assistance to escaped slaves. Forten's mother, paternal aunts Margaretta Forten and Harriet Forten Purvis, and grandmother, Charlotte Vandine Forten, were all founding members of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Her grandfather, wealthy sailmaker James Forten, Sr., was an early equal rights activist in Philadelphia.〔Julie Winch, ''A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 279-80〕 While the Fortens were free northern blacks, Charlotte's mother, Mary Virginia Wood, was the daughter of wealthy planter, James Cathcart Johnston〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's ''The Garies and Their Friends''," ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕〔http://ncpedia.org/biography/johnston-james-cathcart Johnston, James Cathcart〕 of Hayes Plantation, Edenton, North Carolina, and granddaughter of Governor Samuel Johnston of North Carolina. Mary and her mother, Edith "Edy" Wood (1795-1846) were the slaves of Captain James Wood, owner of the Eagle Inn and Tavern in Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina.〔〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's ''The Garies and Their Friends''," ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕 Edy Wood and James Cathcart Johnston carried on a longstanding relationship and had four daughters: Mary Virginia, Caroline (1827-1836), Louisa (1828-1836), and Annie E. (1831-1879).〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕 Johnston emancipated Edy and their children in 1832 and settled them in Philadelphia in 1833 where they rented a Pine Street home for two years from Sarah Allen (missionary), widow of Richard Allen (bishop) of Philadelphia's Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church.〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕 The following year, from 1835 through 1836, Edy Wood and her children boarded with Elizabeth Willson, mother of Joseph Willson, author of ''Sketches of Black Upper Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia''.〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137.3 (2013): 271.〕 After Mary Virginia Wood's 1836 marriage to Robert B. Forten, her mother Edy joined the Forten household and paid board to her son-in-law.〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕 When Mary Wood Forten died of tuberculosis in 1840, Edy Wood continued to care for her grandchild Charlotte alongside Charlotte's young aunt, Annie Wood, who was only six years older. Upon Edy Wood's death in 1846, Charlotte was raised by various members of the Forten-Purvis family, and her aunt Annie lived at the Cassey House where she was adopted by Amy Matilda Cassey.〔Mary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 137.3 (2013): 265-271.〕〔http://www.blackpast.org/aah/cassey-amy-matilda-williams-1808-1856 Cassey, Amy Matilda Williams 1808-1856.〕 In 1854, Forten joined the household of Amy Matilda Cassey and her second husband, Charles Lenox Remond, in Salem, Massachusetts, where she attended the Higginson Grammar School, a private academy for young women. She was the only non-white student in a class of 200. Known for emphasis in critical thinking, the school had classes in history, geography, drawing and cartography, and placed an emphasis on critical thinking skills. After Higginson, Forten studied literature and teaching at the Salem Normal School, which trained teachers. Forten cited William Shakespeare, John Milton, Margaret Fuller and William Wordsworth as some of her favorite authors.Her first teaching position was at Eppes Grammar School in Salem, becoming the first African American hired to teach white students in a Salem public school.〔Brenda Stevenson, ed., ''The Journals of Charlotte Forten'', New York: Oxford Press, 1988〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charlotte Forten Grimké」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|