Harriet E. Wilson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Harriet E. Wilson
Born	Harriet E. Adams March 15, 1825 Milford, New Hampshire
Died	June 28, 1900 (aged 75) Quincy, Massachusetts
Resting place	Mount Wollaston Cemetery
Occupation	Novelist
Notable works	Our Nig

Harriet E. Wilson (born March 15, 1825 – died June 28, 1900) was an African-American writer. She made history by being the first African American to publish a novel in North America.

Her novel, Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, came out in 1859 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was published without her name and wasn't very well known at first. Years later, in 1982, a scholar named Henry Louis Gates, Jr. found the book. He proved it was the first novel published in the United States by an African American author.

Harriet Wilson was born free in New Hampshire. Sadly, she became an orphan when she was young. She was then forced to work as an indentured servant until she was 18. This meant she had to work for a family without pay in exchange for food, a place to live, and training. After that, she worked hard to support herself. She married twice, but her life was full of challenges. Her only son, George, sadly passed away at age seven while living in a poor house. Harriet had placed him there while she was a widow trying to survive. She wrote only one novel. Later in life, Wilson became involved with the Spiritualist church. She gave public talks about her life and worked as a housekeeper.

Harriet Wilson's Life Story

Harriet E. "Hattie" Adams was born in Milford, New Hampshire. Her mother, Margaret Ann Smith, was a washerwoman of Irish background. Her father, Joshua Green, was an African-American man who made barrels. He had mixed African and Native American roots.

When Hattie was very young, her father died. Her mother then left Hattie at the farm of Nehemiah Hayward Jr. He was a wealthy farmer in Milford. Because Hattie was an orphan, the courts made her an indentured servant to the Hayward family. This was a common way for orphans to get support and learn skills back then. The idea was that the child would work and, in return, get food, a place to live, and training for life.

Researchers P. Gabrielle Foreman and Reginald H. Pitts believe the Hayward family in real life were the "Bellmont" family in Harriet's book, Our Nig.

After her time as an indentured servant ended at age 18, Hattie Adams worked as a house servant and a seamstress (someone who sews clothes). She worked in homes across southern New Hampshire.

Marriage and Family Life

Hattie Adams married Thomas Wilson in Milford on October 6, 1851. Thomas was an escaped slave who traveled around New England giving talks about his life. However, he later told Hattie that he had made up his story. He said he was never a slave and had lied to get help from abolitionists. Abolitionists were people who wanted to end slavery.

Thomas Wilson left Harriet soon after they got married. Harriet was pregnant and sick. She was sent to the Poor Farm in Goffstown. Her only son, George Mason Wilson, was born there. He was likely born on June 15, 1852.

Soon after George was born, Thomas Wilson came back and took them away from the Poor Farm. He went back to being a sailor and died shortly after.

As a widow, Harriet Wilson had to return her son George to the Poor Farm. She could not earn enough money to support both of them and care for him while she worked. Sadly, George died at the age of seven on February 16, 1860, from a fever.

After George's death, Wilson moved to Boston to find more work. On September 29, 1870, she married again to John Gallatin Robinson in Boston. He was an apothecary, which is like a pharmacist. He was nearly 18 years younger than Harriet. They lived together for about seven years. After 1877, they lived in separate places in Boston. There is no record that they ever divorced.

Writing Her Novel

Original title page of Our Nig, published in 1859.

While living in Boston, Wilson wrote Our Nig. On August 14, 1859, she officially registered the book. She gave a copy to the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. On September 5, 1859, the book was published without her name by a company in Boston. In the book's introduction, Wilson said she wrote it to earn money to help her sick son, George.

In 1863, Harriet Wilson was listed on a report for the poor in Milford, New Hampshire. After 1863, she disappeared from records until 1867. Then, she was mentioned in a Boston newspaper for Spiritualists called Banner of Light. It said she was living in East Cambridge.

She later moved to Boston and became known as "the colored medium" in Spiritualist groups. From 1867 to 1897, "Mrs. Hattie E. Wilson" was listed in the Banner of Light as someone who could give readings and lectures. She was very active in the Spiritualist community. She gave talks, sometimes while in a trance, in many places across New England. She spoke at outdoor meetings, in theaters, and in private homes. She shared the stage with other famous speakers of the time. In 1870, Wilson traveled to Chicago, Illinois for a Spiritualist meeting. She gave talks about making work better and about children's education. We don't have the exact words of her talks, but newspapers said she often shared her life experiences. She was known for being smart and funny.

Wilson also worked as a Spiritualist nurse and healer. She was like a "spiritual doctor" who could give medical advice and visit people at their homes. She helped organize and run "Children's Progressive Lyceums." These were like Sunday Schools for children of Spiritualists. She planned Christmas parties, took part in plays, and sometimes sang in a group. She was also known for her beautiful flower decorations and the candies she made for children.

For almost 20 years, from 1879 to 1897, she was the housekeeper of a boardinghouse in Boston. She rented out rooms, collected money, and kept the building in good shape.

There is no proof that Harriet Wilson wrote anything else for publication after Our Nig.

Harriet E. Wilson passed away on June 28, 1900, in Quincy Hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was buried in the Cobb family plot in Mount Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy.

Who Wrote the First Novel?

The scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. found Our Nig again in 1982. He proved it was the first novel published in the United States by an African American. His discovery brought a lot of attention to the book. It was published again with an introduction by Gates and has been printed many times since.

In 2006, two professors, William L. Andrews and Mitch Kachun, found another book. It was Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865). This book was first printed in parts in a newspaper. When they published it as a book in 2006, they said it should be considered the first "truly imagined" novel by an African American in the U.S. They argued that Our Nig was more like a true story (autobiography) than a made-up story (fiction).

Gates replied that many other novels from that time were partly based on real life. But they were still considered novels. For example, Ruth Hall (1854) and Little Women (1868–69) also had parts based on real experiences.

The very first known novel by an African American was William Wells Brown's Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853). But this book was published in the United Kingdom, where he was living then. Some critics argued that The Curse of Caste was not finished (Collins died before finishing it) and wasn't as well-written. They felt that Wilson's and Brown's books were better examples of early African-American literature.

One expert, Eric Gardner, thought that Our Nig didn't get much praise from abolitionists when it first came out. This was because it didn't fit the usual style of "slave narratives." Slave narratives were popular stories written by former slaves about their experiences. Gardner believed abolitionists might not have promoted Our Nig because it showed the problems faced by free black people in the North. They were still treated badly as indentured servants and faced racism. The book didn't offer a simple promise of freedom. Also, the main character was strong and stood up to a white woman, which was unusual for the time.

Lois Leveen, another writer, said that even though Our Nig is about a free black person in the North, the character is still treated unfairly. She argued that Wilson was showing how even "free blacks" were not truly free in a racist society.

Legacy and Honors

• Since Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s work in 1982, Harriet Wilson has been recognized as the first African American to publish a novel in the United States.
• The Harriet Wilson Project ordered a statue of Wilson in 2006. The statue was made by Fern Cunningham and is located in Milford, New Hampshire's Bicentennial Park.

See also

• African-American literature