Discarded Legacy
Politics and Poetics in the Life of Frances E. W. Harper, 1825-1911
By Melba Joyce Boyd
African American Studies, Biography, By WSU Faculty, Literary Criticism and Theory, Poetry, Women's Studies
Paperback
ISBN: 9780814324899
Pages: 264 Size: 6x9
Illustrations: 2 black and white images
Review
Boyd is excellent in addressing a formal critique of Mrs. Harper's work . . . an authentic study, perhaps the best we yet have of the writer.
— Maryemma Graham
Frances E. W. Harper is a central figure in the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century African-American literature and intellectual thought. The foremost poet of the "free colored community," she was also a lecturer,
educator, essayist, and novelist. A prolific champion of the abolitionist and feminist causes, she has come to be recognized for the critical role she played in the rise of the women's movement, particularly in the development of the black women's movement. Yet neither her art nor her political insight was preserved by subsequent generations until recently.
In this important study, poet Melba Joyce Boyd analyzes Harper not simply as a feminist and an activist, but as a writer. Boyd reads her in context, placing Harper's life, poetry, novels, and speeches within the nineteenth century African-American quest for "freedom and literacy."
Harper's genius is illuminated as Boyd traces her radicalism through her struggles with issues of race, gender, and class, and the other personal and social injustices she confronted. Discarded Legacy comprises three parts: "The Abolitionist Years," "The Pursuit of the Promised Land," and "The Woman's Era." These divisions characterize the thrust of the historical periods which encompass Harper's lifetime and the thematic focus of her writings. Though Harper's primary political emphasis is on slavery and the Reconstruction, she sustains a strong feminist voice throughout these times and in all of her writings. Likewise, during the women's era, she maintains an anti-racist stance and strongly criticizes racism in white feminist politics.
Boyd's response to Harper's work is interactive and improvisational, and whenever possible, she maintains Harper's voice, allowing her to speak about her own work. When analyzing Harper's language, Boyd provides insight into Harper's aesthetic by discussing the writings thematically and structurally within a biographical framework. Finally, by examining Harper's use of traditional poetic techniques, language, oral tradition forms, and other tools, Boyd
demonstrates how Harper's art and politics are synthesized into a dynamic whole.
This book weaves Harper's radical vision with the intuitive and analytical dimensions of her imagination and language. Through perceptive explication of Harper's writings and consideration of her thematic inclinations and political and social affiliations, Boyd is able to show how Harper crafted her subjects and how the literature and speeches interrelated in theme and historical experience. Boyd has successfully arranged Harper's work in a manner that connects our present to Harper's past and that re-envisions her consciousness.
Boyd is excellent in addressing a formal critique of Mrs. Harper's work . . . an authentic study, perhaps the best we yet have of the writer.
– Maryemma Graham, Northeastern University
This book affirms and reclaims Frances E. W. Harper as a major force in the development of nineteenth-century thought, not only in her literary responses to the climate of her own time but also in her durability and relevance to the present. Aesthetically and politically, her work deserves the insightful critical attention which the author has given it. Dr. Boyd's sound scholarship and her perceptiveness and sensitivity as a poet combine to make this book a monumental contribution.
– Naomi Long Madgett, Ph.D., poet laureate of Detroit and author of Pilgrim Journey