Lydia Maria Child: The Quest for Racial Justice (Oxford Portraits)

Lydia Maria Child presents the life of the dynamic nineteenth-century writer who, through her pen and at great personal cost to her literary career, spoke out for those silenced in society -- slaves, Native Americans, women, and the poor. At the dawn of the 1830s, Lydia Maria Child was a celebrated author, known for her popular domestic handbook, The Frugal Housewife, and Hobomok, a novel of American Indian life. In 1833, with the publication of her controversial Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans, Child's life changed dramatically from literary figure to antislavery activist. Her Appeal helped ignite the abolitionist movement, and several antislavery leaders -- including Wendell Phillips and Charles Sumner -- credited it with converting them to the cause. An inspirational look at an extraordinary woman, Lydia Maria Child is the story of how one person fought for the basic human right of freedom -- for all.

Oxford Portraits are informative and insightful biographies of people whose lives shaped their times and continue to influence ours. Based on the most recent scholarship, they draw heavily on primary sources, including writings by and about their subjects. Each book is illustrated with a wealth of photographs, documents, memorabilia, framing the personality and achievements of its subject against the backdrop of history.

Lori Kenschaft is an American historian with a special interest in the history of social change. She has taught at Boston University and is currently teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She earned her Ph.D in American Studies at Boston University.