Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 - March 28, 1929) was an American professor and author, chiefly remembered for her anthem America the Beautiful , but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Bates enjoyed close links with Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she had graduated with a B. A., and later became a professor of English literature, helping to launch American literature as an academic speciality, and writing one of the first-ever college textbooks on it. She never married, possibly because she would have lost tenure if she had. Throughout her long career at Wellesley, she shared a house with her close friend and companion Katharine Coman.