The Collected Meditations of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart (2021) compiles the speeches and writings of Maria W. Stewart. This groundbreaking collection includes some of the best works from across Stewart’s career as the first African American public lecturer, including Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria Stewart, her 1832 speech delivered at the Franklin Hall, her address delivered before the African American Female Intelligence Society, and her lecture delivered at the African Masonic Hall in 1833. “Many will suffer for pleading the cause of oppressed Africa, and I shall glory in being one of her martyrs; for I am firmly persuaded that the God in whom I trust is able to protect me from the rage and malice of mine enemies, and from them that will rise up against me; and if there is no other way for me to escape, He is able to take me to himself…” In the brief span of five years, Stewart became one of Boston’s most prominent lecturers on abolition and women’s rights, passionately condemning the institution of slavery while calling attention to the racism faced by free African Americans living in the north. This collection places some of her best-known speeches alongside her highly regarded meditations, personal reflections on life as a Black woman in nineteenth century America. A keen observer of political events and a powerful voice against oppression of all kinds, Maria W. Stewart remains relatively unknown despite her prominent role in the movements for abolition and women’s rights. This edition of The Collected Meditations of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879) was an African American teacher, journalist, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. Born Maria Miller to free African American parents in Hartford, Connecticut, she was orphaned at the age of three and sent to live with a local minister as an indentured servant. She was educated at Sabbath School and married James W. Stewart, a merchant, in 1826. Following his death in 1829, she was excluded from his will and left to fend for herself. Around this time, she began lecturing to audiences of men and women of all races. She was the first known African American woman to lecture publicly on women’s rights, religion, and abolition, publishing some of her speeches and meditations in pamphlets with the help of William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator. After a poorly-received speech at Boston’s African Masonic Lodge, Stewart abandoned lecturing to move to New York City and later Washington, DC, where she found work as a schoolteacher and head matron of Freedmen’s Hospital.
