by Kirstie Lewis
The life and work of Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was held up as an example of a strong, independent, principled woman intellectual who influenced many in her too-short lifetime. Margaret was a formidable intelligent, socially eccentric young woman who was either intensely disliked or ardently admired, but who could not be ignored. She was the founding editor of the Transcendentalist periodical, The Dial; she held what might be termed the first “consciousness-raising” seminars for women in Boston; she wrote the first major feminist book in America, Woman in the Nineteenth Century; she became the first female reporter and later the first female foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune; and she was the first woman ever allowed to step foot into the Harvard University Library. She died, tragically, at the age of 40 in a ship-wreck. In the 1840s Margaret’s work was actually more widely read than Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work – a little-known fact! One of her better known statements was this: “Let every arbitrary barrier be thrown down. Let women be sea captains if they will!”
Starting in 2005, East Shore’s Women’s Perspective has held an annual Margaret Fuller tea to honor her and her work.
At our tea on Sunday, May 3rd, 1:00-4:00 pm, we are excited to offer a dramatic presentation by Tames Alan of Living History Lectures about the American suffragette movement. 2020 is the 100th anniversary of women’s enfranchisement in America. $10 per person. Register online to guarantee your seat!