33: Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried

Date: August 06, 2025 Legacy Makers: Stories of Black Inventors and Icons Title and Show Info Episode #33. Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried Featuring: Toni Davis (Host & Storyteller). Summary 🎙️ Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried. Before Rosa Parks sat and before Maya Angelou spoke. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote. In this thrilling, soul-stirring episode, we trace the incendiary arc of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Poet, abolitionist, orator, suffragist, and all-around force of nature. Born free but far from safe, in 1825 Baltimore, Frances sharpened her voice in the margins of injustice. Orphaned at a very young age, she was raised on scripture and insurrection, and from that crucible emerged a pen that would not flinch. From the hush of a home library to the pulpit of national suffrage conventions, Frances carried ink like a weapon and used it to carve her name into history. She taught in freedmen's schools, contributed the Underground Railroad, refused trolley segregation, and comforted John Brown's widow. Her poems weren't pretty. They were powder kegs. First to publish a short story as an African American woman. First to unite race, gender, and reform with righteous fire. And when the 15th Amendment split the movement, she chose unity without silence. Through novels, lectures, and leadership in the National Association of Colored Women, she kept lifting as she climbed. Even when loss threatened to undo her. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper didn't live to vote. But her words; fierce, tender, and unrelenting, inked the path toward it. This is not a history lesson. It's a battle cry. This is Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. 🔥 Pen. Paper. Power. Press play.  #LegacyMakers #PodcastEpisode #FrancesEllenWatkinsHarper #BlackSuffragist #VotesForWomen #VoicesThatBuiltAmerica   Highlights: 00:57- INTRO. 01:05- FRANCES ELLEN WATKNS' BIRTH AS A FREE PERSON OF COLOR. 01:42- DECEASED PARENTS. 01:54- ADOPTED BY HER AUNT HENRIETTA & UNCLE WILLIAM WATKINS. 02:38- ATTENDS THE WILLIAM WATKINS ACADEMY FOR NEGRO YOUTH. 02:48- LEAVES SCHOOL. 02:56- WORKS AS A SEAMSTRESS & NURSEMAID. 03:29- PUBLISHES HER 1ST COLLECTION OF POEMS. 03:53- THE FIRST WOMAN TO TEACH AT UNION SEMINARY. 04:08- PENNSYLVANIA, WILLIAM STILL & THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. 04:24- POEM, THE SLAVE MOTHER. 05:10- EVALUATION AND EDUCATION OF OUR PEOPLE. 05:22- MAINE & PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES. 05:36- POEMS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 05:41- BURY ME IN A FREE LAND. 06:06- REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A TROLLEY. 06:20- THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN TO PUBLISH A SHORT STORY. 06:37- WRITES TO JOHN BROWN. 07:04- OUR GREATEST WANT. 07:20- MARRIES FENTON HARPER. 07:42- TO THE CLEVELAND UNION SAVERS. 07:56- SARA LUCY BAGBY. 08:19- GIVES BIRTH TO THEIR DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER. 08:31- HER HUSBAND FENTON PASSES AWAY. 08:47- THE CIVIL WAR ENDS. 08:53- SHE RELOCATES SOUTH TO TEACH NEWLY FREED SLAVES. 09:41- THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION. 09:46- WE ARE ALL BOUND UP TOGETHER. 10:05- 15TH AMENDMENT. 10:24- THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION. 10:32- NOVEL, MINNIE'S SCARIFICE. 10:55- FREEDMEN'S BUREAU. 11:03- POEMS. 11:07- SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE. 11:21 NOVEL, SOWING AND REAPING. 11:41- SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COLORED SECTION OF THE PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU). 11:59- NOVEL, TRIAL AND TRIUMPH. 12:05- SPARROW'S FALL AND OTHER POEMS. 12:10- THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN IN DC. 12:26- NOVEL, IOLA LEROY. 12:46- THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA AND OTHER POEMS. 12:53- ATLANTA OFFERINGS, POEMS. 12:58- CO-FOUNDS THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN. 13:14- VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NACW. 13:26- HER DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER, PASSES AWAY. 13:50- FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER PASSES AWAY. 14:19- FUNERAL HELD AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. 14:27- BURIED AT EDEN CEMETERY. 14:48- THE 19TH AMENDMENT. 15:13- CONCLUSION. Subscribe to the podcast.   Links To Additional Resources: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Wikipedia Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | The Poetry Foundation Frances Harper Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Colored Convention Heartland: Black Organizers, Women and the Ohio Movement Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Archives of Women's Political Communication Frances Watkins Harper - NATIONAL ABOLITION HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th's fellows "I Speak of Wrongs"—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Western States Pave the Way | New Tactics for a New Generation, 1890–1915 | Explore | Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | DPLA biography.com/authors-writers/frances-ew-harper Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , MSA SC 3520-12499-- revisit Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | EBSCO Research Starters Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum Biographical Timeline - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Mural Arts Frances E. Watkins Harper - First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia Save the Boys Student Guide - Opera Philadelphia Frances Ellen Watkins (Harper)'s Forest Leaves (ca. 1846) – Just Teach One: Early African American Print Featured Poet | Frances E.W. Harper Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward Overlooked No More: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Poet and Suffragist - The New York Times Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House (U.S. National Park Service) The 19th's fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Historic Spotlight: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Department of Planning and Development | City of Philadelphia April 14, 1875: Frances Harper on Grassroots Organizing During Reconstruction - Zinn Education Project A Resonant Call for Change: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Appeal to America | The New York Historical Meet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, suffragist and writer. The 19th's fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Five Interesting Facts About Frances Harper - Africa Imports How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th's fellows About Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Academy of American Poets Frances E.W. Harper | African-American Author & Social Reformer | Britannica Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Facts for Kids explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-3EC.html Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Quotes (Author of Iola Leroy) TOP 25 QUOTES BY FRANCES HARPER | A-Z Quotes Frances Harper quote: A government which can protect and defend its citizens from... A Free Black Woman Writes to Imprisoned John Brown · SHEC: Resources for Teachers Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – The Underground Railroad 5.pdf JOHN BROWN TODAYA Biographer's Blog Display Textbook The Slave Mother | The Poetry Foundation The Slave Mother by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poem Analysis Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio" (1857) Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother" (1854) The Slave Mother, poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper · Wylie House Exhibits "The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio" (1857) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – American Literature I: An Open Anthology of Texts From Early America Through the Civil War The Slave Mother, a Tale of the Ohio · Colored Conventions Project Digital Records Poetry towards Progress: Frances E. W. Harper  – Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound D. A. Powell reads and discusses Frances E. W. Harper's "Bury Me in a Free Land" | Library of Congress Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poems | Academy of American Poets Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Harper - Poem Analysis Poem of the week: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances EW Harper | Poetry | The Guardian Bury Me in a Free Land – The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature Poetry Sunday: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Minnie's Sacrifice Quotes by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Minnie's Sacrifice by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper gu011053.pdf The Project Gutenberg eBook of Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Frances Smith Foster Time Warp: A Historical Perspective on Two Novels by Frances E. W. Harper on JSTOR Speech by Frances Watkins Harper: "We Are All Bound Up Together" | Facing History & Ourselves Frances Harper - Wikiquote Inspiring Speeches by Frances Watkins Harper, 19th-Century Reformer & Author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Quotations By Women Frances Harper (40+ Sourced Quotes) - Lib Quotes Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "National Salvation": A Rediscovered Lecture on Reconstruction - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life 13.1 Visual Info Brief: Frances Harper Quote.pptx Papers & Collections: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – Black Women's Organizing Archive Home - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - LibGuides at Duquesne University We Are All Bound Up Together (1866) | Constitution Center Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825-1911 | Library of Congress Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Alexander Street Documents Poems. | Library of Congress Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum We Are All Bound Up Together – May 1866 | Archives of Women's Political Communication Harper, "Woman's Political Future," Speech Text - Voices of DemocracyMicrosoft Word - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper selected readings (1).docx "All Bound Up Together" - Women & the American Story Black Abolitionist Archive | Frances Ellen Watkins [Harper] | University of Detroit Mercy Libraries "A Heritage of Scorn": Harper Urges A Color-Blind Cause "The Two Offers" by Frances Watkins Harper - full text Classic stories of the author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Short Édition Analysis of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's The Two Offers – Literary Theory and Criticism Story The Burdens of All by author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, available online since 3 years and 5 months - We may sigh o'er the heavy - Short Édition Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Selected Readings Frances Ellen Watkins Harper publishes first short story by a black woman. - Maryland 400