Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Iona Leroy

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

About the Author

Born free in 1825, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper began her writing career with a book of poetry.  She did not publish her first and only novel Iola Leroy until she was 67 years old.  She was the chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and assisted escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad. 

About Iola Leroy

Being one of the first ever novels to be published by an African American woman, this 1892 novel explores the Victorian ideals of womanhood and how slavery prevents African American women from adhering to those ideals. This lies opposite the argument by the pro-slavery movement that African Americans were not able to adhere to such ideals at all.  This novel tells the tale of a young woman who is so light-skinned that she did not know she was African American until after her father's death when she was taken from her school in the north and sold into slavery and eventually becomes free and fights for uplift.  The novel deals not only with womanhood, but miscegenation  passing for white, and many other themes that can be found throughout African American Literature. 

Dicussion Question 1

In Chapter 2, Robert says "I ain’t got nothing ‘gainst my ole Miss, except she sold my mother from me. And a boy ain’t nothin’ without his mother. I forgive her, but I never forget her, and never expect to. But if she were the best woman on earth I would rather have my freedom than belong to her." How does this quote portray Robert's feelings regarding the institution of slavery and aid in the theme that slavery breaks family units?

Discussion Question 2

The title "Iola Leroy" is also substituted with the title "Shadows Uplifted", how does this second title relate to the novel as a whole? What are the shadows and how are they uplifted?

Fact 1

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper published her first book of poetry at age 20, titled Forest Leaves. She did not publish her first novel until the age of 67. One of her poems, Learning to Read, discusses literacy in slaves. This being a theme in the class, I have decided to post the poem, along with a recording of two of Harper's poems read aloud.

Learning to Read

Very soon the Yankee teachers
Came down and set up school;
But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,—
It was agin’ their rule.

Our masters always tried to hide                                                 
Book learning from our eyes;
Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—
’Twould make us all too wise.

But some of us would try to steal
A little from the book.
And put the words together,
And learn by hook or crook.

I remember Uncle Caldwell,
Who took pot liquor fat
And greased the pages of his book,
And hid it in his hat.

And had his master ever seen
The leaves upon his head,
He’d have thought them greasy papers,
But nothing to be read.

And there was Mr. Turner’s Ben,
Who heard the children spell,
And picked the words right up by heart,
And learned to read ’em well.

Well, the Northern folks kept sending
The Yankee teachers down;
And they stood right up and helped us,
Though Rebs did sneer and frown.

And I longed to read my Bible,
For precious words it said;
But when I begun to learn it,
Folks just shook their heads,

And said there is no use trying,
Oh! Chloe, you’re too late;
But as I was rising sixty,
I had no time to wait.

So I got a pair of glasses,
And straight to work I went,
And never stopped till I could read
The hymns and Testament.

Then I got a little cabin
A place to call my own—
And I felt independent
As the queen upon her throne.