Public humanities/Featured
Monday's featured articles
editDifferent articles are featured here each day of the week. Visit again tomorrow to discover new public humanities resources.
Learn more about the Florida citrus industry worker Horace Thompson at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau
Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau was born into slavery on August 15, 1861 on Barbour Street in Eufaula, Alabama. Both of her parents had American Indian heritage, her mother from Virginia and her father from South Carolina. Russeau’s father died when she was only a few months old. Her mother raised her alone, teaching her to be a “missy.” Rather than leaving the plantation after the Civil War brought freedom from slavery, her mother stayed with her masters. While Russeau was actually American Indian, she was often confused as an African American woman. Based on her accounts, she experienced what life was like as an African American woman.
Learn more about Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
Elle Goode Hardeman
As regent during the war, Hardeman was involved with many causes on the home front. The Liberty Hall Chapter sponsored the Fifth Company, Coast Artillery of the N.C. National Guard, a company that lived and trained in the Charlotte-based Camp Greene. The chapter sent Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes to them, hosted the company when they were in Charlotte on furlough, and provided dinners with entertainment on base when they were away. The DAR also kept close contact with the mothers of those in the Fifth Company and managed a list of where the men travelled throughout the wartime, even as some of them were transferred to other companies. Through the DAR, she also supported many war bond drives, sold thrift stamps, and helped raise patriotism on the home front.
Learn more about Elle Goode Hardeman at World War I -- Life Histories
Frances E. W. Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born on September 24, 1824, to free black parents in Baltimore, Maryland. Her story, The Two Offers, written in 1859, is considered the first short story published by an African American woman. Harper is an important figure to study not only because of her literary accomplishments, but also because she devoted her literary and oratorical talents to “crafting freedom” for others. Orphaned at the age of three, Frances E. W. Harper was raised by her uncle, Reverend William Watkins, who was a political activist, clergyman, and director of Baltimore’s Academy for Negro Youth.
Learn more about Frances E. W. Harper at The Crafting Freedom Project