Margaret Fuller

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Margaret Fuller

• May 23, 1810 July 19, 1850

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Key Events

• Margaret Fuller was the first full-time American
  female book reviewer in journalism.
• Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is
  considered the first major feminist work in the
  United States.
• She was the first editor of transcendentalist
  journal The Dial in 1840.
• She was the first woman allowed to use the
  library at Harvard.

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Progressive Era

• Margaret Fuller was an advocate of womens
  rights, womens education and their right to
  employment.
• She encouraged reforms including the prison
  reform and the emancipation of slaves.
• By her 30s, she earned reputation as the
  best-read person in New England, male or female.
• She was sent to Europe for the Tribune as its
  first female correspondent.

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Interesting Facts

• Many advocates for womens rights/feminism, such
  as Susan B. Anthony, cite her as a source of
  inspiration.
• Some contemporaries were not supportive, saying
  Fuller was a talker rather than an activist.
• Her importance faded shortly after her death.

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Major Interests/Works/Accomplishments

• Margaret Fuller was a feminist and believed in
  providing education to women.
• She believed women could push for equal political
  rights as well.
• Some of her major works were Summer on the Lakes
  (1844), Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845),
  and Papers on Literature and Art (1846).

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Quotes

• If you have knowledge, let others light their
  candles in it.
• There is no wholly masculine man, no purely
  feminine woman.

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Impact on Society

• Margaret Fuller was one of the most influential
  and innovative people of the 19th century. She
  was the first American to write a book on women's
  equality, the first female foreign war
  correspondent and first to serve under combat
  conditions, and the first female literary critic
  whose work was important enough to set the
  literary standards of her time.
• While her life was cut short, her impact both
  during her lifetime and today, makes her an
  undeniably important woman. She was an outspoken
  supporter of women's rights, education, prison
  reform, the abolition of slavery, and a model for
  female leadership and pioneering.

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Quiz Questions

1. What is Margaret Fuller most famous for writing?
2. What debate did she begin?
3. What did she ask from women?
4. What was her greatest belief?
5. What was her greatest accomplishment by the time
   she was in her 30s?

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Cited Sources

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller
• http//transcendentalism-legacy.tamu.edu/authors/f
  uller/
• http//www.margaretfuller.org/
• http//www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/poet/fuller.html