a biography of the day-judith sargent stevens murray (early feminist, essayist/writer)

[niyad]

Judith Sargent Murray
Born May 1, 1751
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Died June 9, 1820 (aged 69) (some sources say 6 july 1820)
Natchez, Mississippi
Occupation Women's rights advocate, essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer.
Spouse(s) John Stevens, John Murray

Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820) was an early American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer. She was one of the first American proponents of the idea of the equality of the sexes—that women, like men, had the capability of intellectual accomplishment and should be able to achieve economic independence. Her landmark essay "On the Equality of the Sexes," published in the Massachusetts Magazine in March and April 1790 predated Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which was published in Britain in 1792 and in Philadelphia in 1794.


Judith Sargent was born on May 1, 1751, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Winthrop and Judith Saunders Sargent. She first noticed the gender inequalities of her day when her brother Winthrop, two years her younger, began studying the classics, a subject that her parents—in keeping with the usual practice of the eighteenth century—refused to provide for their daughter. She learned to read and write, and had a passable knowledge of French, but although she considered herself as capable as her brother, her educational experience was far inferior to his. Thus, even as a young girl, she was painfully aware of the way her society circumscribed the aspirations of women.[1]

Primarily self-taught, Murray believed that with quality education, women's accomplishments would equal those of men's. She believed women would succeed in life for two reasons: 1) education, 2) parents who raised their daughters to "reverence themselves," as she put it in one of her essays.
A student of history, Murray used examples of women's accomplishments dating to ancient times to prove her points and to provide leadership in what would become a long struggle for women to fulfill their potential and become fully empowered members of society.
Early career

Judith Sargent Murray wrote anonymously under assumed names including "Constantia," "The Reaper," "Honora Martesia," and, most famously, as her male persona "Mr. Vigilius" or "The Gleaner." She adopted this masculine pen name because she wanted her readers to consider her ideas and not dismiss them as merely derived from the pen of a woman. Murray's three-volume 1798 book of essays and plays titled The Gleaner, established her as a leading author and intellect, and as an advocate for women's equality, education, and economic independence. Essays in The Gleaner also championed the new republic; considered citizenship, virtue, and philanthropy; decried war and violence of any kind; and discussed Universalism, Murray's chosen faith. The book was purchased by such prominent figures as George Washington, John Adams, Henry Knox, and Mercy Otis Warren.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Sargent_Murray