This was probably the best-selling novel by an Afro-American writer prior to the 20th century. Published in 1892, it went through five impressions in one year. Frances Harper had already gained an international reputuation as a writer, lecturer, and political activist when this, her only novel, was published. It enjoyed a wide readership among men and women, black and white, in the US, Canada, and Britain.

Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

Literature & Fiction

Harper, Frances E.W.

United States

Oxford University Press

Frances Harper was renowned in her lifetime not only as an activist who rallied on behalf of blacks, women, and the poor, but as a pioneer of the tradition of 'protest' literature, whose immense popularity did much to develop an audience for poetry in America. This collection of her poems is drawn from ten volumes published between 1854 and 1901. Their main issues are oppression, Christianity, and social and moral reform. Consolidating the oral tradition and the ballad form, and merging dramatic details and imagery with a strong political and racial awareness, Harper's poetry represented a distinctly Afro-American discourse that was to inspire generations of black writers.

Complete Poems of Frances E.W. Harper (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women WritersGeneral Editor: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The past two decades have seen a dramatic resurgence of interest in black women writers, as authors such as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have come to dominate the larger African-American literary landscape. Yet the works of the writers who founded and nurtured the black women's literary tradition-nineteenth-century African-American women-have remained buried in research libraries or in expensive hard-to-find reprints, often inaccessible to twentieth-century readers. Oxford University Press, in collaboration with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research unit of The New York Public Library, rescued the voice of an entire segment of the black tradition by offering thirty volumes of these compelling and rare works of fiction, poetry, autobiography, biography, essays, and journalism. Responding to the wide recognition this series has received, Oxford now presents four more of these volumes in paperback (to add to the four already available). Each book contains an introduction written by an expert in the field, as well as an overview by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the General Editor.

Iola Leroy: Or Shadows Uplifted (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections                                      such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact,                                       or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections,                                       have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works                                       worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.                                                                             ++++                                      The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification:                                      ++++                                       Idylls Of The Bible reprint, illustrated Frances Ellen Watkins Harper AMS Press, 1901 Literary Criticism; Poetry; Christian poetry, American; Literary Criticism / Poetry; Poetry / Inspirational & Religious

Idylls of the Bible

Poetry

Ams Pr Inc

Life of the daughter of a wealthy Mississippi planter.

Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted

This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format. Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship.

Poems

The daughter of a wealthy Mississippi planter, Iola Leroy led a life of comfort and privilege, never guessing at her mixed-race ancestry — until her father died and a treacherous relative sold her into slavery. This stirring tale of life during the Civil War and Reconstruction traces a young woman's struggles and triumphs on the path to self-discovery. Confronted with the truth of her origins, Iola Leroy rejects the secrecy and shame inherent to a life of passing as white. Instead, she devotes herself to the improvement of black society in this compelling exploration of race, politics, and class. The New York Times noted that this 1892 work was "probably the bestselling novel by an African-American before the twentieth century." It bears the additional distinction of being among the first novels published by an African-American woman. Author Frances E. W. Harper, a popular lecturer and poet, was a leader in the suffrage and temperance movements and a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women. In Iola Leroy, she advocates female self-sufficiency and independence within the context of a gripping work of historical fiction.

Iola Leroy, or, Shadows Uplifted (Dover Literature: African American)

Dover Publications

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Iola Leroy (Large Print Edition)

BiblioLife

Iola Leroy

Iola Leroy is one of the first novels published by an African-American Woman. The novel by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper tells the tale of the eponymous Ms. Leroy, a mixed-race woman who is the daughter of a wealthy white plantation owner in antebellum Mississippi. Iola's light skin conceals her mixed-race ancestry, and originally she lives a life of privilege with her family. She travels north for education but is kidnapped, confronted with her black ancestry, and sold into slavery in the South. As a slave, she endures abuse and sexual advances by various white masters until she is freed by the Union army during the Civil War. As a newly-freed woman, Iola refused to "pass" for white. Instead, she identifies with the black community and builds a life as a progressive reformer. The novel have been noted for its treatment of the subjects of slavery, women's rights, interracial marriage (or "miscegenation"), Reconstruction, and the social concept of "passing".

Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (Black Women Writers)

Contemporary

Beacon Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harper, Frances E.W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harper, Frances E.W.