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33: Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried
Date: August 06, 2025
Legacy Makers: Stories of Black Inventors and Icons
Title and Show Info
Episode #33. Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried
Featuring: Toni Davis (Host & Storyteller).
Summary
🎙️ Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried.
Before Rosa Parks sat and before Maya Angelou spoke. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote.
In this thrilling, soul-stirring episode, we trace the incendiary arc of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Poet, abolitionist, orator, suffragist, and all-around force of nature. Born free but far from safe, in 1825 Baltimore, Frances sharpened her voice in the margins of injustice. Orphaned at a very young age, she was raised on scripture and insurrection, and from that crucible emerged a pen that would not flinch.
From the hush of a home library to the pulpit of national suffrage conventions, Frances carried ink like a weapon and used it to carve her name into history. She taught in freedmen’s schools, contributed the Underground Railroad, refused trolley segregation, and comforted John Brown’s widow. Her poems weren’t pretty. They were powder kegs.
First to publish a short story as an African American woman. First to unite race, gender, and reform with righteous fire. And when the 15th Amendment split the movement, she chose unity without silence. Through novels, lectures, and leadership in the National Association of Colored Women, she kept lifting as she climbed. Even when loss threatened to undo her.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper didn't live to vote. But her words; fierce, tender, and unrelenting, inked the path toward it.
This is not a history lesson. It’s a battle cry. This is Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. 🔥 Pen. Paper. Power. Press play.
 #LegacyMakers #PodcastEpisode #FrancesEllenWatkinsHarper #BlackSuffragist #VotesForWomen #VoicesThatBuiltAmerica
Â
Highlights:
00:57- INTRO.
01:05- FRANCES ELLEN WATKNS’ BIRTH AS A FREE PERSON OF COLOR.
01:42- DECEASED PARENTS.
01:54- ADOPTED BY HER AUNT HENRIETTA & UNCLE WILLIAM WATKINS.
02:38- ATTENDS THE WILLIAM WATKINS ACADEMY FOR NEGRO YOUTH.
02:48- LEAVES SCHOOL.
02:56- WORKS AS A SEAMSTRESS & NURSEMAID.
03:29- PUBLISHES HER 1ST COLLECTION OF POEMS.
03:53- THE FIRST WOMAN TO TEACH AT UNION SEMINARY.
04:08- PENNSYLVANIA, WILLIAM STILL & THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
04:24- POEM, THE SLAVE MOTHER.
05:10- EVALUATION AND EDUCATION OF OUR PEOPLE.
05:22- MAINE & PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES.
05:36- POEMS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.
05:41- BURY ME IN A FREE LAND.
06:06- REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A TROLLEY.
06:20- THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN TO PUBLISH A SHORT STORY.
06:37- WRITES TO JOHN BROWN.
07:04- OUR GREATEST WANT.
07:20- MARRIES FENTON HARPER.
07:42- TO THE CLEVELAND UNION SAVERS.
07:56- SARA LUCY BAGBY.
08:19- GIVES BIRTH TO THEIR DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER.
08:31- HER HUSBAND FENTON PASSES AWAY.
08:47- THE CIVIL WAR ENDS.
08:53- SHE RELOCATES SOUTH TO TEACH NEWLY FREED SLAVES.
09:41- THE NATIONAL WOMAN’S RIGHTS CONVENTION.
09:46- WE ARE ALL BOUND UP TOGETHER.
10:05- 15TH AMENDMENT.
10:24- THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
10:32- NOVEL, MINNIE’S SCARIFICE.
10:55- FREEDMEN’S BUREAU.
11:03- POEMS.
11:07- SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE.
11:21 NOVEL, SOWING AND REAPING.
11:41- SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COLORED SECTION OF THE PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU).
11:59- NOVEL, TRIAL AND TRIUMPH.
12:05- SPARROW’S FALL AND OTHER POEMS.
12:10- THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN IN DC.
12:26- NOVEL, IOLA LEROY.
12:46- THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA AND OTHER POEMS.
12:53- ATLANTA OFFERINGS, POEMS.
12:58- CO-FOUNDS THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN.
13:14- VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NACW.
13:26- HER DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER, PASSES AWAY.
13:50- FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER PASSES AWAY.
14:19- FUNERAL HELD AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH.
14:27- BURIED AT EDEN CEMETERY.
14:48- THE 19TH AMENDMENT.
15:13- CONCLUSION.
Subscribe to the podcast.
Â
Links To Additional Resources:
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Wikipedia
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | The Poetry Foundation
Frances Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Colored Convention Heartland: Black Organizers, Women and the Ohio Movement
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Archives of Women's Political Communication
Frances Watkins Harper - NATIONAL ABOLITION HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th’s fellows
“I Speak of Wrongs”—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Western States Pave the Way | New Tactics for a New Generation, 1890–1915 | Explore | Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | DPLA
biography.com/authors-writers/frances-ew-harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , MSA SC 3520-12499-- revisit
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | EBSCO Research Starters
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
Biographical Timeline - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Mural Arts
Frances E. Watkins Harper - First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
Save the Boys Student Guide - Opera Philadelphia
Frances Ellen Watkins (Harper)’s Forest Leaves (ca. 1846) – Just Teach One: Early African American Print
Featured Poet | Frances E.W. Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward
Overlooked No More: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Poet and Suffragist - The New York Times
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House (U.S. National Park Service)
The 19th’s fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Historic Spotlight: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Department of Planning and Development | City of Philadelphia
April 14, 1875: Frances Harper on Grassroots Organizing During Reconstruction - Zinn Education Project
A Resonant Call for Change: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Appeal to America | The New York Historical
Meet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, suffragist and writer.
The 19th’s fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Five Interesting Facts About Frances Harper - Africa Imports
How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th’s fellows
About Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Academy of American Poets
Frances E.W. Harper | African-American Author & Social Reformer | Britannica
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Facts for Kids
explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-3EC.html
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Quotes (Author of Iola Leroy)
TOP 25 QUOTES BY FRANCES HARPER | A-Z Quotes
Frances Harper quote: A government which can protect and defend its citizens from...
A Free Black Woman Writes to Imprisoned John Brown · SHEC: Resources for Teachers
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – The Underground Railroad
5.pdf
JOHN BROWN TODAYA Biographer's Blog
Display Textbook
The Slave Mother | The Poetry Foundation
The Slave Mother by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poem Analysis
Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio" (1857)
Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother" (1854)
The Slave Mother, poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper · Wylie House Exhibits
“The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio” (1857) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – American Literature I: An Open Anthology of Texts From Early America Through the Civil War
The Slave Mother, a Tale of the Ohio · Colored Conventions Project Digital Records
Poetry towards Progress: Frances E. W. Harper – Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
D. A. Powell reads and discusses Frances E. W. Harper’s “Bury Me in a Free Land” | Library of Congress
Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poems | Academy of American Poets
Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Harper - Poem Analysis
Poem of the week: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances EW Harper | Poetry | The Guardian
Bury Me in a Free Land – The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature
Poetry Sunday: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Minnie's Sacrifice Quotes by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Minnie's Sacrifice by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
gu011053.pdf
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Frances Smith Foster
Time Warp: A Historical Perspective on Two Novels by Frances E. W. Harper on JSTOR
Speech by Frances Watkins Harper: “We Are All Bound Up Together” | Facing History & Ourselves
Frances Harper - Wikiquote
Inspiring Speeches by Frances Watkins Harper, 19th-Century Reformer & Author
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Quotations By Women
Frances Harper (40+ Sourced Quotes) - Lib Quotes
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “National Salvation”: A Rediscovered Lecture on Reconstruction - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life
13.1 Visual Info Brief: Frances Harper Quote.pptx
Papers & Collections: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – Black Women’s Organizing Archive
Home - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - LibGuides at Duquesne University
We Are All Bound Up Together (1866) | Constitution Center
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825-1911 | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Alexander Street Documents
Poems. | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
We Are All Bound Up Together – May 1866 | Archives of Women's Political Communication
Harper, "Woman's Political Future," Speech Text - Voices of DemocracyMicrosoft Word - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper selected readings (1).docx
"All Bound Up Together" - Women & the American Story
Black Abolitionist Archive | Frances Ellen Watkins [Harper] | University of Detroit Mercy Libraries
"A Heritage of Scorn": Harper Urges A Color-Blind Cause
“The Two Offers” by Frances Watkins Harper - full text
Classic stories of the author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Short Édition
Analysis of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s The Two Offers – Literary Theory and Criticism
Story The Burdens of All by author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, available online since 3 years and 5 months - We may sigh o'er the heavy - Short Édition
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Selected Readings
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper publishes first short story by a black woman. - Maryland 400
View all episodes
Date: August 06, 2025
Legacy Makers: Stories of Black Inventors and Icons
Title and Show Info
Episode #33. Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried
Featuring: Toni Davis (Host & Storyteller).
Summary
🎙️ Bound by Ink and Liberty: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the Vote She Carried.
Before Rosa Parks sat and before Maya Angelou spoke. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote.
In this thrilling, soul-stirring episode, we trace the incendiary arc of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Poet, abolitionist, orator, suffragist, and all-around force of nature. Born free but far from safe, in 1825 Baltimore, Frances sharpened her voice in the margins of injustice. Orphaned at a very young age, she was raised on scripture and insurrection, and from that crucible emerged a pen that would not flinch.
From the hush of a home library to the pulpit of national suffrage conventions, Frances carried ink like a weapon and used it to carve her name into history. She taught in freedmen’s schools, contributed the Underground Railroad, refused trolley segregation, and comforted John Brown’s widow. Her poems weren’t pretty. They were powder kegs.
First to publish a short story as an African American woman. First to unite race, gender, and reform with righteous fire. And when the 15th Amendment split the movement, she chose unity without silence. Through novels, lectures, and leadership in the National Association of Colored Women, she kept lifting as she climbed. Even when loss threatened to undo her.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper didn't live to vote. But her words; fierce, tender, and unrelenting, inked the path toward it.
This is not a history lesson. It’s a battle cry. This is Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. 🔥 Pen. Paper. Power. Press play.
 #LegacyMakers #PodcastEpisode #FrancesEllenWatkinsHarper #BlackSuffragist #VotesForWomen #VoicesThatBuiltAmerica
Â
Highlights:
00:57- INTRO.
01:05- FRANCES ELLEN WATKNS’ BIRTH AS A FREE PERSON OF COLOR.
01:42- DECEASED PARENTS.
01:54- ADOPTED BY HER AUNT HENRIETTA & UNCLE WILLIAM WATKINS.
02:38- ATTENDS THE WILLIAM WATKINS ACADEMY FOR NEGRO YOUTH.
02:48- LEAVES SCHOOL.
02:56- WORKS AS A SEAMSTRESS & NURSEMAID.
03:29- PUBLISHES HER 1ST COLLECTION OF POEMS.
03:53- THE FIRST WOMAN TO TEACH AT UNION SEMINARY.
04:08- PENNSYLVANIA, WILLIAM STILL & THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
04:24- POEM, THE SLAVE MOTHER.
05:10- EVALUATION AND EDUCATION OF OUR PEOPLE.
05:22- MAINE & PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES.
05:36- POEMS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.
05:41- BURY ME IN A FREE LAND.
06:06- REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A TROLLEY.
06:20- THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN TO PUBLISH A SHORT STORY.
06:37- WRITES TO JOHN BROWN.
07:04- OUR GREATEST WANT.
07:20- MARRIES FENTON HARPER.
07:42- TO THE CLEVELAND UNION SAVERS.
07:56- SARA LUCY BAGBY.
08:19- GIVES BIRTH TO THEIR DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER.
08:31- HER HUSBAND FENTON PASSES AWAY.
08:47- THE CIVIL WAR ENDS.
08:53- SHE RELOCATES SOUTH TO TEACH NEWLY FREED SLAVES.
09:41- THE NATIONAL WOMAN’S RIGHTS CONVENTION.
09:46- WE ARE ALL BOUND UP TOGETHER.
10:05- 15TH AMENDMENT.
10:24- THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
10:32- NOVEL, MINNIE’S SCARIFICE.
10:55- FREEDMEN’S BUREAU.
11:03- POEMS.
11:07- SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE.
11:21 NOVEL, SOWING AND REAPING.
11:41- SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COLORED SECTION OF THE PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU).
11:59- NOVEL, TRIAL AND TRIUMPH.
12:05- SPARROW’S FALL AND OTHER POEMS.
12:10- THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN IN DC.
12:26- NOVEL, IOLA LEROY.
12:46- THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA AND OTHER POEMS.
12:53- ATLANTA OFFERINGS, POEMS.
12:58- CO-FOUNDS THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN.
13:14- VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NACW.
13:26- HER DAUGHTER, MARY FRANCES HARPER, PASSES AWAY.
13:50- FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER PASSES AWAY.
14:19- FUNERAL HELD AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH.
14:27- BURIED AT EDEN CEMETERY.
14:48- THE 19TH AMENDMENT.
15:13- CONCLUSION.
Subscribe to the podcast.
Â
Links To Additional Resources:
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Wikipedia
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | The Poetry Foundation
Frances Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Colored Convention Heartland: Black Organizers, Women and the Ohio Movement
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Archives of Women's Political Communication
Frances Watkins Harper - NATIONAL ABOLITION HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th’s fellows
“I Speak of Wrongs”—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Western States Pave the Way | New Tactics for a New Generation, 1890–1915 | Explore | Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | DPLA
biography.com/authors-writers/frances-ew-harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , MSA SC 3520-12499-- revisit
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | EBSCO Research Starters
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
Biographical Timeline - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Mural Arts
Frances E. Watkins Harper - First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
Save the Boys Student Guide - Opera Philadelphia
Frances Ellen Watkins (Harper)’s Forest Leaves (ca. 1846) – Just Teach One: Early African American Print
Featured Poet | Frances E.W. Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward
Overlooked No More: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Poet and Suffragist - The New York Times
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House (U.S. National Park Service)
The 19th’s fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Historic Spotlight: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Department of Planning and Development | City of Philadelphia
April 14, 1875: Frances Harper on Grassroots Organizing During Reconstruction - Zinn Education Project
A Resonant Call for Change: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Appeal to America | The New York Historical
Meet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist, suffragist and writer.
The 19th’s fellows reflect on the impact of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Five Interesting Facts About Frances Harper - Africa Imports
How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper inspires The 19th’s fellows
About Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Academy of American Poets
Frances E.W. Harper | African-American Author & Social Reformer | Britannica
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Facts for Kids
explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-3EC.html
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Quotes (Author of Iola Leroy)
TOP 25 QUOTES BY FRANCES HARPER | A-Z Quotes
Frances Harper quote: A government which can protect and defend its citizens from...
A Free Black Woman Writes to Imprisoned John Brown · SHEC: Resources for Teachers
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – The Underground Railroad
5.pdf
JOHN BROWN TODAYA Biographer's Blog
Display Textbook
The Slave Mother | The Poetry Foundation
The Slave Mother by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poem Analysis
Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio" (1857)
Frances E.W. Harper, "The Slave Mother" (1854)
The Slave Mother, poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper · Wylie House Exhibits
“The Slave Mother: A Tale of the Ohio” (1857) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – American Literature I: An Open Anthology of Texts From Early America Through the Civil War
The Slave Mother, a Tale of the Ohio · Colored Conventions Project Digital Records
Poetry towards Progress: Frances E. W. Harper – Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
D. A. Powell reads and discusses Frances E. W. Harper’s “Bury Me in a Free Land” | Library of Congress
Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Poems | Academy of American Poets
Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Harper - Poem Analysis
Poem of the week: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances EW Harper | Poetry | The Guardian
Bury Me in a Free Land – The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature
Poetry Sunday: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Minnie's Sacrifice Quotes by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Minnie's Sacrifice by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
gu011053.pdf
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Frances Smith Foster
Time Warp: A Historical Perspective on Two Novels by Frances E. W. Harper on JSTOR
Speech by Frances Watkins Harper: “We Are All Bound Up Together” | Facing History & Ourselves
Frances Harper - Wikiquote
Inspiring Speeches by Frances Watkins Harper, 19th-Century Reformer & Author
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Quotations By Women
Frances Harper (40+ Sourced Quotes) - Lib Quotes
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “National Salvation”: A Rediscovered Lecture on Reconstruction - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life
13.1 Visual Info Brief: Frances Harper Quote.pptx
Papers & Collections: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – Black Women’s Organizing Archive
Home - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - LibGuides at Duquesne University
We Are All Bound Up Together (1866) | Constitution Center
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825-1911 | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | Alexander Street Documents
Poems. | Library of Congress
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | National Women's History Museum
We Are All Bound Up Together – May 1866 | Archives of Women's Political Communication
Harper, "Woman's Political Future," Speech Text - Voices of DemocracyMicrosoft Word - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper selected readings (1).docx
"All Bound Up Together" - Women & the American Story
Black Abolitionist Archive | Frances Ellen Watkins [Harper] | University of Detroit Mercy Libraries
"A Heritage of Scorn": Harper Urges A Color-Blind Cause
“The Two Offers” by Frances Watkins Harper - full text
Classic stories of the author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Short Édition
Analysis of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s The Two Offers – Literary Theory and Criticism
Story The Burdens of All by author Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, available online since 3 years and 5 months - We may sigh o'er the heavy - Short Édition
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Selected Readings
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper publishes first short story by a black woman. - Maryland 400