Symposium celebrating writer, activist Frances Harper set for Sept. 19-21

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Frances E.W. Harper was among the United States’ most notable writers, reformers and intellectuals of the 19th century. But awareness of the Black American woman’s considerable influence waned in the decades following her 1911 death.

In recent decades, though, a number of scholars have devoted themselves to restoring Harper’s place in the public imagination, among them Penn State Center for Black Digital Research (CBDR) Director P. Gabrielle Foreman and Africana Research Center Director Sherita L. Johnson. Now the two centers are partnering to host the symposium, “Frances E. W. Harper at 200: Commemorating Her Life and Legacy,” Sept. 19-21 at the University.

The weekend-long event, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harper’s Sept. 24 birth, will feature a full schedule of scholarly and artistic activities, including a panel discussion featuring Frances Smith Foster, the world’s foremost Harper scholar, and an opening night dance performance, “The Artistry and Activism of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper,” directed by Lynnette Young Overby, on Friday, Sept. 19, at the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State.

Most events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, and to register, visit the symposium’s website.

The Harper celebration is just the latest in a series of symposiums CBDR has hosted in honor of Black Americans thinkers and writers, according to Foreman, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature and professor of African American studies and history.

“I’ve been writing about Harper since my undergraduate years,” Foreman said. “She was a pioneer in the literary arts and in oratory, as well as a well-known activist — a true barrier breaker in all of these areas.”

Like Foreman, Johnson has devoted a significant portion of her scholarship to Harper, so the opportunity to honor her life and work was “a no-brainer.”

“For someone who has spent more than 20 years writing and teaching about Harper, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more than this symposium,” said Johnson, associate professor of English. “She was involved in so many things, and so it only makes sense that we’re celebrating all of the different facets of her life. They’re all in the spirit of bringing attention to Harper’s multifaceted career, because unfortunately she has in some ways been forgotten.”

Born free in Baltimore in 1825, Harper was orphaned at age 3 and adopted by her uncle, William Watkins, a well-known educator and the head of a family of reformers. Well educated at a time when it was a rarity, Harper eventually found fame as the most prolific Black novelist and most beloved Black poet of the 19th century. For many years, her novel “Iola Leroy” was thought to be the first one published by an African American woman.

A longtime Philadelphia resident, Harper was also a popular public speaker, a passionate advocate for voting and political rights, and a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).

“Here’s a woman who didn’t have equal rights, but she was committed to advocating full rights of citizenship for African Americans and all women, which is why her activism is so important,” Johnson said. “She was doing all of these things in the 19th century despite what few opportunities society had given to her.”

“There were reading societies named after her, clubs named after her, schools named after her,” Foreman added. “She also participated in the Colored Conventions movement — one of the very few women to do that.”

After years of obscurity, Harper has been steadily re-gaining cultural consciousness. Three of her serialized novels published in the Christian Recorder newspaper were uncovered by Frances Smith Foster, and she was recently a featured character on the HBO series “The Gilded Age.” Johnson was interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer for an article about the show.

Johnson is currently teaching a graduate course on Harper and will edit the book of essays that will emerge from the symposium. Meanwhile, doctoral student Carmin Wong, the inaugural poet laureate of State College, is working with Foreman to publish a trove of new work by contemporary poets in response to Harper’s writing.

Beginning at the symposium, the public will be invited to help transcribe Harper’s works for CBDR’s #TrascribeHarper initiative. Then, on Oct. 30, CBDR and Mural Arts Philadelphia will unveil a new Harper mural at the Greene Street Friends School in Philadelphia.

Other CBDR initiatives include the Harper 200 National Read-a-thon and the “Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200” digital exhibit, which can be included in college and high school classrooms.

All these activities, Foreman said, illustrate Harper’s rightful place in “the pantheon” of Black American intellectuals and reformers.

“It’s awe-inspiring to consider her career at the 200th anniversary of her birth,” Foreman said. “But it’s the last 20 years of the recovery of her work that has allowed us to understand the full span of her contributions to American literature and American democracy. We’re still uncovering the full scope of her work, and the symposium is part of that recovery effort. Frances Harper should be as well known as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth or Frederick Douglass.”

Johnson hopes “as many people as possible” attend the symposium.   

“There’s no reason anyone shouldn’t know who Harper is,” Johnson said. “If you’re studying any significant contribution to the history and culture of this nation, you should know Frances E. W. Harper.”