Drawing on letters, personal testimony, works of art, novels and historic Black newspapers, this book is an interdisciplinary exploration of Black women’s contributions to the intellectual life of nineteenth century America.

Black Female Intellectuals in 19th Century America reconceptualizes the idea of what the term intellectual means through its discussions of both familiar and often forgotten Black women, including Edmonia Lewis, Harriet Powers, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, amongst others. This re-envisioning brings those who have previously been excluded from the scholarship of Black intellectualism more generally, and Black female intellectuals specifically, into the center of the debate. Importantly, it also situates the histories of Black women participating in the intellectual cultures of the United States much earlier than most previous scholarship.

This book will be of interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate specialists and students in the fields of African American history, women’s and gender history and American studies, as well as general readers interested in historical and biographical works.