Lydia Maria Child (1802–80,) née Lydia Maria Francis, was an American social campaigner, essayist, and novelist. Her popularity and moral force furthered the influence that radical abolitionists wielded on the anti-slavery dispute that heralded the Civil War.
Born into an abolitionist family in Watertown, Massachusetts, Child dedicated her life to abolitionism after meeting the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in 1831.
Child’s best-known work, An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans (1833) chronicled the history of slavery and condemned the inequality of education and employment for blacks. The History of the Condition of Women in Various Ages and Nations (1835) advocated women’s equal capacity in the workplace. As editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard 1841–43, she published many essays on political and social issues and transcribed the reminiscences of freed slaves.
Child also published several novels, including Hobomok (1824,) portraying the conflict between the Puritans and Native American tribes in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, The Rebels (1825,) a romance, Philothea (1836,) set in Ancient Greece, and A Romance of the Republic (1867,) a 19th-century anti-slavery story.
Child’s later books include Fact and Fiction (1846,) The Freedmen’s Book (1865,) and An Appeal for the Indians (1868.) A memorial volume, Letters (1883,) was introduced by the Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier and included abolitionist Wendell Phillips‘s address at her funeral.
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Gratitude is the memory of the heart; therefore forget not to say often, I have all I have ever enjoyed.
—Lydia Maria Child
An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves.
—Lydia Maria Child
Topics: Giving, Service, Kindness
You find yourself refreshed in the presence of cheerful people. Why not make an honest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy.
—Lydia Maria Child
Topics: Friendship
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