By Bonnie Withers

Who was the first African-American woman to refuse to give up her seat on public transportation? Rosa Parks? No. Claudette Colvin? You get points for having read the Philip Hoose book, but the answer is still “No”. That woman, born September 24, 1825, is Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She refused to give up her seat in a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia in 1858. 

Frances Watkins was born a free woman in Baltimore. She was much influenced  by her uncle, Rev. William Watkins, a civil rights activist, who, with his wife raised the child, orphaned at age 3. She went on to become widely known as an African-American feminist, abolitionist, and writer. She worked for women’s suffrage, temperance, and education. As an activist and poet, she lectured extensively and helped found the National Association of Colored women. She was a member of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.

Frances Harper’s literary output included poetry, short stories, and a widely praised novel, Iola Leroy, which she wrote at age 67. I would urge you to read her most widely known poem, “Bury Me in a Free Land.” 

Frances Harper, after a long life devoted to social justice, died in February, 1911. Her funeral service was held at the Unitarian Church on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.