Harriet Wilson

In 1825, Harriet E. Wilson was born in Milford, New Hampshire, to a white mother and a Black father. After her mother’s death, she was given away as an indentured servant, spending her childhood in labor and hardship instead of school or play.

As an adult, abandoned by her husband and left to care for her sick child, Harriet worked as a seamstress, cleaner, and domestic servant. Poverty followed her, but she refused to be silenced.

In 1859, she accomplished something extraordinary: she published Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black. It was the first novel ever published by an African American woman in the United States. With unflinching honesty, Harriet exposed that racism and exploitation existed not only in the South but also in the so-called “free” North.

The book sold poorly, and Harriet’s hope that it might provide for her son was never fulfilled. After his death, she moved to Boston, where she became a spiritualist and reformer, offering help to others even as her own name faded into obscurity.

When Harriet Wilson died in 1900, she was buried without recognition. But in 1982, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. rediscovered her book, restoring her place as a pioneer of American literature.

Her voice, once forgotten, now rings out again. Harriet Wilson’s story is one of resilience, courage, and proof that even if the world forgets, words can rise again to be remembered.”