By Rob Velella, Independent scholar and member of the Margaret Fuller Bicentennial Committee of New England
2010 marks the 200th birthday of Margaret Fuller, a woman whose life brought her from Cambridge through Concord to New York to Italy, all while laying the groundwork to change the status of women in the United States.
"On the 23rd of May, 1810, was born one foredoomed to sorrow and pain, and like others to have misfortunes." Those are the words of Sarah Margaret Fuller, written when she was ten years old. The year before, at age nine, she insisted she exclusively be called by her middle name, "Margaret." Her father, Timothy Fuller, was disappointed his first child was a girl, but trained his daughter as a boy nonetheless. By age three and a half, young Margaret could read and write - not only in English but also in Latin; she was translating Virgil by five years old.
In her early adulthood, Margaret became a teacher, inspired by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. Her teaching brought her temporarily to Bronson Alcott's Temple School in Boston. A spin-off of her teaching career came in the form of "Conversations" - scholarly discussions for adult women to compensate for their lack of higher education. Besides the Peabody sisters, participants included Lidian Emerson. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also charmed by Margaret, noting that "she made me laugh more than I liked."
Emerson invited Margaret to helm the Transcendental journal The Dial in 1839. Through The Dial, she built a strong reputation amongst the circle of Transcendentalists - including George Ripley, who frequently wooed her to join the community at Brook Farm. Though a frequent visitor (often enough that a building was named in her honor), she never signed on. It was also in The Dial that Margaret published one of her most important works: "The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men, Woman versus Women," later expanded into the book Woman in the Nineteenth Century (shown at right). Today, it is considered among the first major feminist writings in American history.
In "The Great Lawsuit," Margaret demanded a redefining of the role of women in the United States. Equality was important to her but could only be accomplished through greater education, access to wider career choices, and better roles in marriage. As she wrote to a friend, "I had put a good deal of my true self in it, as if, I suppose I went away now, the measure of my footprint would be left on earth." She certainly left a footprint; among her admirers were William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau. Another Concord resident, Nathaniel Hawthorne, however, was less impressed; he noted, "I think Margaret speaks of many things that should not be spoken of."
Nonetheless, Margaret continued doing radical things as a woman in the nineteenth century. In 1844, she moved to New York to work for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, where she became the first full-time book critic in the United States (her first article was a review of Emerson). By 1846, she became that publication's first female editor. That year, she was also sent abroad to become the first female overseas correspondent. In Europe, she also reported on the revolution in Italy and it was there that she met the revolutionary Giovanni Ossoli. In September 1848, the couple had a son together, whom they named Angelino.
The lives of this couple and their young son ended tragically in 1850, when all three died at sea off the shores of Fire Island in New York. She was 40 years old. Emerson sent Thoreau to comb the beaches for her body; it was never found. Emerson and others helped establish a cenotaph in her honor in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Its inscription reads, in part:
By birth a child of New England
By adoption a citizen of Rome
By genius belonging to the world
Certainly, for a life cut short, Margaret left ample footprints. She was an inspiration for future feminist leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her writing and philosophies were admired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Walt Whitman. Even Concord resident Nathaniel Hawthorne paid homage to Margaret when he crafted the main character Hester Prynne in his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter, published in the last year of Margaret's life.
To prepare for her bicentennial, community members are throwing Margaret a party on her 199th birthday: Saturday, May 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square (3 Church Street, Cambridge). Special guests included noted scholars and authors like Laurie James and Megan Marshall as well as a special appearance by "Margaret Fuller" herself. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome; a $25 donation is recommended. For more information, visit www.margaretfuller.org.
2010 marks the 200th birthday of Margaret Fuller, a woman whose life brought her from Cambridge through Concord to New York to Italy, all while laying the groundwork to change the status of women in the United States."On the 23rd of May, 1810, was born one foredoomed to sorrow and pain, and like others to have misfortunes." Those are the words of Sarah Margaret Fuller, written when she was ten years old. The year before, at age nine, she insisted she exclusively be called by her middle name, "Margaret." Her father, Timothy Fuller, was disappointed his first child was a girl, but trained his daughter as a boy nonetheless. By age three and a half, young Margaret could read and write - not only in English but also in Latin; she was translating Virgil by five years old.
In her early adulthood, Margaret became a teacher, inspired by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. Her teaching brought her temporarily to Bronson Alcott's Temple School in Boston. A spin-off of her teaching career came in the form of "Conversations" - scholarly discussions for adult women to compensate for their lack of higher education. Besides the Peabody sisters, participants included Lidian Emerson. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also charmed by Margaret, noting that "she made me laugh more than I liked."
Emerson invited Margaret to helm the Transcendental journal The Dial in 1839. Through The Dial, she built a strong reputation amongst the circle of Transcendentalists - including George Ripley, who frequently wooed her to join the community at Brook Farm. Though a frequent visitor (often enough that a building was named in her honor), she never signed on. It was also in The Dial that Margaret published one of her most important works: "The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men, Woman versus Women," later expanded into the book Woman in the Nineteenth Century (shown at right). Today, it is considered among the first major feminist writings in American history.
In "The Great Lawsuit," Margaret demanded a redefining of the role of women in the United States. Equality was important to her but could only be accomplished through greater education, access to wider career choices, and better roles in marriage. As she wrote to a friend, "I had put a good deal of my true self in it, as if, I suppose I went away now, the measure of my footprint would be left on earth." She certainly left a footprint; among her admirers were William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau. Another Concord resident, Nathaniel Hawthorne, however, was less impressed; he noted, "I think Margaret speaks of many things that should not be spoken of."
Nonetheless, Margaret continued doing radical things as a woman in the nineteenth century. In 1844, she moved to New York to work for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, where she became the first full-time book critic in the United States (her first article was a review of Emerson). By 1846, she became that publication's first female editor. That year, she was also sent abroad to become the first female overseas correspondent. In Europe, she also reported on the revolution in Italy and it was there that she met the revolutionary Giovanni Ossoli. In September 1848, the couple had a son together, whom they named Angelino.
The lives of this couple and their young son ended tragically in 1850, when all three died at sea off the shores of Fire Island in New York. She was 40 years old. Emerson sent Thoreau to comb the beaches for her body; it was never found. Emerson and others helped establish a cenotaph in her honor in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Its inscription reads, in part:
By birth a child of New England
By adoption a citizen of Rome
By genius belonging to the world
Certainly, for a life cut short, Margaret left ample footprints. She was an inspiration for future feminist leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her writing and philosophies were admired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Walt Whitman. Even Concord resident Nathaniel Hawthorne paid homage to Margaret when he crafted the main character Hester Prynne in his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter, published in the last year of Margaret's life.
To prepare for her bicentennial, community members are throwing Margaret a party on her 199th birthday: Saturday, May 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square (3 Church Street, Cambridge). Special guests included noted scholars and authors like Laurie James and Megan Marshall as well as a special appearance by "Margaret Fuller" herself. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome; a $25 donation is recommended. For more information, visit www.margaretfuller.org.
