Jump to content

Charlotte Forten Grimké

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlotte Forten Grimké
Born
Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten

(1837-08-17)August 17, 1837
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,U.S.
DiedJuly 23, 1914(1914-07-23)(aged 76)
Alma materSalem Normal School For Teachers
SpouseFrancis James Grimké
Parent(s)Robert Bridges Forten
Mary Virginia Wood
RelativesMargaretta Forten(paternal aunt)
Harriet Forten Purvis(paternal aunt)
James Forten, Sr.(paternal grandfather)
Samuel Johnston(maternal great-grandfather)

Charlotte Louise Bridges Grimké(néeForten; August 17, 1837 – July 23, 1914) was anAfrican Americananti-slavery activist,poet,andeducator.She grew up in a prominent abolitionist family inPhiladelphia.She taught school for years, including during the Civil War, tofreedmeninSouth Carolina.Later in life she marriedFrancis James Grimké,aPresbyterianminister who led a major church inWashington, DC,for decades. He was a nephew of the abolitionistGrimké sistersand was active in civil rights.

Her diaries written before the end of theCivil Warhave been published in numerous editions in the 20th century and are significant as a rare record of the life of a free black woman in theantebellumNorth.[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Forten, known as "Lottie," was born on August 17, 1837, inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania,to Mary Virginia Wood (1815 – 1840) and Robert Bridges Forten (1813 – 1864).[2]

Paternal family lineage[edit]

Her father, Robert Forten, and his brother-in-law,Robert Purvis,wereabolitionistsand members of thePhiladelphia Vigilance Committee,ered assistance to people who escapedslavery.Her paternal grandfather, the wealthy sailmakerJames FortenSr., was an earlyabolitionistin Philadelphia.[3]

Her paternal aunts –Margaretta Forten,Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis,andHarriet Forten Purvis– and her paternal grandmother,Charlotte Vandine Forten,were all founding members of thePhiladelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.

Maternal family lineage[edit]

While the Fortens were free northern blacks, Charlotte's mother, Mary Virginia Wood, had been born into slavery in the south. She was the daughter of wealthy planter James Cathcart Johnston ofHayes Plantation,Edenton, North Carolina, and the granddaughter of GovernorSamuel Johnstonof North Carolina.[4][5]

Charlotte's maternal grandmother, Edith "Edy" Wood (1795 – 1846) was the slave of Captain James Wood, owner of the Eagle Inn and Tavern inHertford,Perquimans County,North Carolina.[3][4]Edy Wood and the wealthy planter James Cathcart Johnston carried on a longstanding relationship and had four daughters: Mary Virginia, Caroline (1827 – 1836), Louisa (1828 – 1836), and Annie E. (1831 – 1879).[4][2]

Johnston emancipated Edy and their children in 1832 and settled them in Philadelphia in 1833[2]where they rented a Pine Street home for two years fromSarah Allen,widow ofRichard Allenof Philadelphia'sMother Bethel A.M.E. Church.[4]From 1835 through 1836, Edy Wood and her children boarded with Elizabeth Willson, mother of Joseph Willson, author ofSketches of Black Upper Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia.[4]

Woods–Forten marriage and family life[edit]

After Mary Virginia Wood's 1836 marriage to Robert B. Forten, her mother Edy joined the Forten household and paid board to her son-in-law.[4]When Mary died oftuberculosisin 1840, Edy continued to care for her grandchild Charlotte alongside Charlotte's young aunt, Annie Wood, who was only six years older. Upon Edy Wood's death in 1846, Charlotte was raised by various members of the Forten-Purvis family, while her aunt Annie moved to theCassey House,where she was adopted by Amy Matilda Cassey.[4][6]

In 1854, Forten joined the household of Amy Matilda Cassey and her second husband,Charles Lenox Remond,inSalem,Massachusetts,where she attended the Higginson Grammar School, a private academy for young women.[7][8]She was the only non-white student in a class of 200.[8]The school offered classes in history, geography, drawing, and cartography, with special emphasis placed on critical thinking skills. After Higginson, Forten studied literature and education at the Salem Normal School, which trained teachers.[9]Forten citedWilliam Shakespeare,John Milton,Margaret FullerandWilliam Wordsworthas some of her favorite authors. Her first teaching position was at Eppes Grammar School in Salem, becoming the first African American hired to teach white students in a Salem public school.[10]

Grimké assisted with her husband's ministry at Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, shown here as it was in about 1899.
The Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church today

Activism[edit]

Forten became a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, where she was involved incoalitionbuilding and fund-raising. She proved to be influential as an activist and leader on civil rights.

Forten occasionally spoke to public groups on abolitionist issues. In addition, she arranged for lectures by prominent speakers and writers, includingRalph Waldo Emersonand SenatorCharles Sumner.Forten was acquainted with many other anti-slavery proponents, includingWilliam Lloyd Garrison,editor ofThe Liberator,and the orators and activistsWendell Phillips,Maria Weston ChapmanandWilliam Wells Brown.

In 1892, Forten,Helen Appo Cook,Ida B. Wells,Anna Julia Cooper,Mary Jane Patterson,Mary Church Terrell,and Evelyn Shaw formed theColored Women's Leaguein Washington, D.C. The goals of the service-oriented club were to promote unity, social progress, and the best interests of the African American community.[11]In 1896, Forten assisted in starting theNational Association of Colored Women.[12]Forten stayed active in activist circles until her death.[12]

Teaching career[edit]

In 1856, finances forced Forten to take a teaching position at Epes Grammar School in Salem.[7]She was well received as a teacher but returned to Philadelphia after two years due totuberculosis.At this point, Forten began writing poetry, much of which was activist in theme.[13]Her poetry was published inThe LiberatorandAnglo Africanmagazines.

During the American Civil War, Forten was the first black teacher to join the mission to the South Carolina Sea Islands known as thePort Royal Experiment.The Union allowed Northerners to set up schools to begin teaching freedmen who remained on the islands, which had been devoted to large plantations for cotton and rice.

Forten was the first African American to teach at the Penn School (now the Penn Center) on St. Helena's Island, South Carolina. The school was initially founded to teach enslaved African-American children and eventually African-American children freed during the U.S. Civil War. The Union forces divided the land, giving freedmen families plots to work independently. Forten worked with many freedmen and their children onSt. Helena Island.During this time, she resided atSeaside Plantation.[14]She chronicled this time in her essays, entitled "Life on the Sea Islands," which were published inAtlantic Monthlyin the May and June issues of 1864.[15]

Forten struck up a deep friendship withRobert Gould Shaw,the Commander of the all-black54th Massachusetts Regimentduring the Sea Islands Campaign. She was present when the 54th stormed Fort Wagner on the night of July 18, 1863. Shaw was killed in the battle, and Forten volunteered as a nurse to the surviving members of the 54th.[citation needed]

Following the war in the late 1860s, she worked for theU.S. Treasury DepartmentinWashington, DC,recruiting teachers. In 1872, Forten taught at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. One year later, she became a clerk in the Treasury Department.[12]

Marriage and family[edit]

Charlotte L. Forten Grimké, 1870s

In December 1878, Forten marriedPresbyterianministerFrancis J. Grimké,pastor of the prominent Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church inWashington, D.C.,a major African-American congregation.[1]He was amixed-racenephew of white abolitionistsSarah and Angelina Grimkéof South Carolina. Francis and his brotherArchibald Grimkéwere the sons of Henry Grimké and Nancy Weston (a woman of color). At the time of their marriage, Forten was 41 years old and Grimké was 28. On January 1, 1880, Charlotte and Francis' daughter Theodora Cornelia Grimké was born, but the child died less than five months later.[citation needed]

Charlotte Grimké assisted her husband in his ministry, helping create important networks in the community, including providing charity and education. Many church members were leaders in the African-American community in the capital. She organized a women's missionary group and focused on "racial uplift" efforts. When Francis' brother, Archibald Grimke, was appointed as U.S. consul in theDominican Republic(1894–98), Francis and Charlotte cared for his daughterAngelina Weld Grimké,who lived with them in the capital. Angelina Grimké later became an author in her own right.[citation needed]

Details of Charlotte Forten Grimké's health and travels during the 1880s and 1890s are documented in the recently discovered letters ofLouisa Matilda Jacobs,Charlotte's third-cousin, and daughter of fugitive-slave-narrative authorHarriet Ann Jacobs.[16]

TheCharlotte Forten Grimke House

TheCharlotte Forten Grimke Housein Washington, D.C., is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[17]

Writings[edit]

Charlotte Forten Grimké's last literary effort was in response toThe Evangelisteditorial, "Relations of Blacks and Whites: Is There a Color Line in New England?" It asserted that blacks were not discriminated against inNew Englandsociety. She responded that black Americans achieved success over extraordinary social odds, and they simply wanted fair and respectful treatment.[18]

She was a regular journal writer until she returned north after teaching in South Carolina. After her return, her entries were less frequent, although she wrote about her daughter's death and her busy life with her husband. Her journals are a rare example of documents detailing the life of a free black female in the antebellum North.[1][10]

In her diary on December 14, 1862, she made a reference to "the blues"as a sad or depressed state of mind. She was teaching in South Carolina at the time and wrote that she came home from a church service" with the blues "because she" felt very lonesome and pitied myself. "She soon got over her sadness and later noted certain songs, including one calledPoor Rosy,that were popular among the slaves. Forten admitted that she could not describe the manner of singing but she did write that the songs "can't be sung without a full heart and a troubled spirit." Those conditions inspired countless blues songs and could be described as the essence of blues singing.[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abc"PBS Online: Only A Teacher: Schoolhouse Pioneers, Charlotte Forten".PBS, KQED.Archivedfrom the original on 2001-03-05.Retrieved2021-02-01.
  2. ^abcMaillard, Mary (17 November 2019)."Mary Virginia Wood (Forten) (1815-1840)".Black Past.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-10-24.Retrieved2021-02-01.
  3. ^abJulie Winch,A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten,New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 279–80.
  4. ^abcdefgMary Maillard, "'Faithfully Drawn from Real Life:' Autobiographical Elements in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends,"Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography137.3 (2013): 265–271.
  5. ^Martha M. Smith,"Johnston, James Cathcart",NCpedia, 1988.
  6. ^Janine Black,"Cassey, Amy Matilda Williams 1808–1856",BlackPast.
  7. ^ab"Charlotte Forten, Women In Education: Teacher Of Emancipated Slaves".History of American Women.2007-04-19.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-06-03.Retrieved2021-02-01.
  8. ^ab"Charlotte Forten Grimke biography".Women in History.2005-03-06. Archived fromthe originalon 2005-03-06.Retrieved2021-02-01.
  9. ^Williams, Fannie Barrier (1914-08-06)."A Tribute to Charlotte Forten Grimke".The New York Age.p. 4.Retrieved2021-02-01.
  10. ^abBrenda Stevenson, ed.,The Journals of Charlotte Forten,New York: Oxford Press, 1988
  11. ^Smith, Jessie Carney (1992). "Josephine Beall Bruce".Notable Black American women(v1 ed.). Gale Research Inc. p. 123.OCLC34106990.
  12. ^abc"Charlotte Forten Grimké (U.S. National Park Service)".nps.gov.Retrieved2019-04-13.
  13. ^Bio: "Charlotte L. Forten Grimke",Poetry Foundation
  14. ^"Seaside Plantation, Beaufort County (S.C. Sec. Rd. 77, St. Helena Island)".National Register Properties in South Carolina.South Carolina Department of Archives and History.Retrieved25 February2014.
  15. ^Charlotte Forten,"Life on the Sea Islands: A young black woman describes her experience teaching freed slaves during the Civil War",Atlantic Monthly,Vol. 13, No. 79, May 1864.
  16. ^Mary Maillard (2017).Whispers of Cruel Wrongs: The Correspondence of Louisa Jacobs and Her Circle, 1879–1911.University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN978-0-299-31180-3.
  17. ^National Historic Landmarks ProgramArchivedJune 6, 2011, at theWayback Machine
  18. ^Ray Billington, ed.,The Journal of Charlotte Forten: A Free Negro in the Slave Era,New York: Norton, 1981.
  19. ^Paul Oliver (1969),The Story of the Blues,London: Barrie & Rockliff, p. 8.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlotte_Forten_Grimké&oldid=1222126572"