a biography of the day-lydia maria child (author, abolitionist, women's and indian rights activist)

[niyad]

Lydia Maria Child
Reformer, Speaker and Writer

Lydia Maria Child Facts

Known for: abolitionist and women's rights activism; Indian rights advocate; author of Over the River and Through the Wood ("A Boy's Thanksgiving Day&quot
Occupation: reformer, writer, speaker
Dates: February 11, 1802 - October 20, 1880
Also known as: L. Maria Child, Lydia M. Child, Lydia Child
Lydia Maria Child Biography

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Maria was especially close to her brother, Convers Francis, a Harvard College graduate, a Unitarian minister and, later in life, a professor at Harvard Divinity School. After a brief teaching career, Maria went to live with this six-year-older brother and his wife at his parish. Inspired, she later said, by a conversation with Convers, she took up the challenge to write a novel depicting early American life, finishing this novel, Hobomok, in only six weeks. This
novel today is valued not for its lasting value as a literary classic, which it is not, but for its attempt to realistically portray early American life and for its then-radical positive portrayal of a Native American hero as a noble Indian in love with a white woman.
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After their marriage, he drew her into his own political interests. She began to write for his newspaper. A regular theme of her columns and of children's stories in Juvenile Miscellany was the mistreatment of Indians by both the New England settlers and earlier Spanish colonists.
When President Jackson proposed moving the Cherokee Indians against their will out of Georgia, in violation of earlier treaties and government promises, David Child's Massachusetts Journal began virulently attacking Jackson's positions and actions.

Lydia Maria Child, around that same time, published another novel, The First Settlers. In this book, the white main characters identified more with the Indians of early America than with the Puritan settlers. One notable interchange in the book holds up as models for leadership two women rulers: Queen Isabella of Spain and her contemporary, Queen Anacaona, Carib Indian ruler. Her positive treatment of Native American religion and her vision of a multiracial democracy caused little controversy -- mostly because she was able to give the book little promotion and attention after publication. David's political writings at the Journal had resulted in many cancelled subscriptions and a libel trial against David. He ended up spending time in prison on this offense, though his conviction was later overturned by a higher court.
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The Appeal had two main effects. One, it was instrumental in convincing many Americans of the need for abolition of slavery. Those who credited Child's Appeal with their own change of mind and increased commitment included Wendell Phillips and William Ellery Channing. Two, Child's popularity plummeted, leading to the folding of Juvenile Miscellany (in 1834) and reduced sales of The Frugal Housewife. She published more anti-slavery works, including an anonymously-published Authentic Anecdotes of American Slavery (1835) and the Anti-Slavery Catechism (1836). Her new attempt at an advice book, The Family Nurse (1837), failed, a victim of the controversy.

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http://womenshistory.about.com/od/childlydiamaria/a/lydiamariachild.htm