Lydia Maria Child
Who was the literary campaigner who championed the end of slavery in America?
An early proponent of the American abolitionist movement and a hugely successful female writer, Lydia Maria Child forged her own path from the young age of 22. Ignoring the naysayers and using her voice to stand up for those persecuted by white American society, Child ensured that she stuck to her principles and championed what she believed was right, even when her views proved to be unpopular with the general public and had a detrimental effect on the success of her work. A woman of morals, Child produced a number of works that, nevertheless, made an indelible mark on the anti-slavery movement of the 1800s.
Early Life
Born on 11 February 1802 in Medford, Massachusetts, Lydia Francis was the youngest of six children born to Convers and Susannah Francis. Her parents owned a bakery where the two of them worked to provide for their large family. Education was prioritised for the children and Lydia was taught from a young age at Medford’s public schools. She later spent a year studying at a women’s seminary before tragedy struck the family when, in 1814, Lydia’s mother died. After this, Lydia went to live with her older married sister, Mary, in Maine where she continued her education. At the age of 19, she returned to Massachusetts to the care of her older brother, also named Convers. Convers was a Unitarian minister and Harvard graduate who encouraged Lydia to keep up with her studies and pursue her interests in literature. It was around this time that Lydia was re-baptised in the Unitarian church, and decided to choose a new name for herself. She became Lydia Maria Francis, and asked to henceforth be referred to by her adopted middle name. During this time in her life, Maria began to write her first novel and in 1824, at the age of 22, she published Hobomok, A Tale of Early Times.
Hobomok, A Tale of Early Times
Telling the tale of an interracial marriage between a white Puritan woman and a Native American man, Maria’s historical novel became an overnight sensation. Shocking and controversial at the time for its plot, the publication of Hobomok propelled Maria into the centre of American literary conversations. Having been inspired to write the story after reading a piece in the North American Review in 1821 that encouraged writers to use Native American life as subject matter, Child drew upon her own personal experiences with Native Americans. While she had been living in Norridgewock, Maine as a teenager, Maria had witnessed first hand the plight of Native Americans and decided to channel her views into her first foray into fiction.
