“The result will be not to make home less happy, but society more holy.” — Frances E. W. Harper | V2Melody

“The result will be not to make home less happy, but society more holy.”

She rejects the idea that women's public advancement must diminish the importance of home. · Speech, Woman's Political Future, 1893

Frances E. W. Harper

About Frances E. W. Harper

Frances E. W. Harper

24 September 1825–22 February 1911

In the rich tapestry of nineteenth-century American literature and reform, few figures shine as brightly—or with as enduring a flame—as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Born into freedom yet forged in the fires of racial injustice, she emerged as a poet of profound moral vision, a tireless abolitionist lecturer, a…

More by Frances E. W. Harper

Poems by Frances E. W. Harper

More remarks by Frances E. W. Harper

“Whatever concerns them, as a race, concerns me.”

A concise declaration of solidarity with the wider Black community and its struggles. · Prose, The Colored People in America, 1857

“Great evils stare us in the face that need to be throttled by the combined power of an upright manhood and an enlightened womanhood.”

She calls for men and women to confront social evils together. · Speech, Woman's Political Future, 1893

“More than the increase of wealth, the power of armies, and the strength of fleets is the need of good homes, of good fathers, and good mothers.”

She places family life and moral formation above military and material power. · Speech, Woman's Political Future, 1893