Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837-1914) was a writer, teacher, poet, abolitionist, and suffragist. Though she faced prejudice due to her gender and race throughout her life, she tirelessly fought for freedom and education for all.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know -- but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Leading Ladies, Activists, STEMinists, Hometown Heroes, and many more. Encyclopedia Womannica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
In case you’re just tuning in, here’s the deal: Every weekday, we’re talking about women from around the world and throughout history who you may not know about but definitely should. Each month is themed. This month, we’re talking about Activists, women who fought to make the world a better place.
Today we’re talking about a woman who was a writer, teacher, poet, abolitionist, and suffragist. Though she faced prejudice due to her gender and race throughout her life, she tirelessly fought for freedom and education for all. Meet Charlotte Forten Grimké.
Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten was born on August 17, 1837. Her family had long lived in Philadelphia. Charlotte’s grandfather, James Forten, was a fourth generation resident of the city. He served in the American Revolution, became a sail maker and eventually became one of the wealthiest people of African descent in the new United States. He was also one of the best-known Abolitionists.
Activism ran deep in the family. The Forten household was filled with prominent members of the abolition movement throughout Charlotte’s childhood. Her father, grandfather and uncle were among the drafters of the “Appeal on Behalf of Forty Thousand Disenfranchised African Americans” and her grandmother and aunts were founders of the Philadelphia Female Antislavery Society.
When Charlotte was just three years old, her mother died. Her father remarried, but the role of Charlotte’s mother was largely taken over by her grandmothers and aunts.
At that point in time, schools in Philadelphia were segregated. Charlotte’s father sent Charlotte to Salem, Massachusetts to attend an integrated educational institution. She enrolled at Higginson Grammar School for Girls in 1853.
After graduation, Charlotte continued her education at Salem Normal School, what’s now known as Salem State University. She attended a year-and-a-half long program to become a teacher in which she studied a wide variety of subjects including literature, Latin, physiology, math and geography.
Charlotte described her time in Salem as very happy. Still, she was subject to racism and prejudice. She wrote in her journal, “I wonder that every colored person is not a misanthrope. Surely we have everything to make us hate mankind.”
Even while she was in school, Charlotte was an incredible writer. She wrote essays and poems that were published in the Liberator and the Salem Register.
After school, Charlotte became the first African American teacher to work in Salem’s public school system. She briefly went back to Philadelphia due to health issues before returning to Salem to take more classes and to teach at Higgenson, the school she previously attended.
And then came the Civil War in 1860. When Union forces eventually recaptured the area between Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, and the adjacent coastal islands, there was a newfound opportunity for formerly enslaved people. The Union created what was called the “Port Royal Experiment.” Formerly enslaved people were asked to harvest cotton to support the Union war effort in exchange for then gaining ownership of the land they were farming. In addition to that exchange, formerly enslaved people were now allowed to seek education they were previously barred from receiving.
When Charlotte heard about the Port Royal Experiment, she headed south. In October of 1862 she traveled to St. Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina to help teach hundreds of formerly enslaved people to read. Charlotte purposefully taught her students about Black heroes including François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, the leader of the Haitan Revolution. In a journal entry dated November 13, 1862, she wrote, "Talked to the children a little while to-day about the noble Toussaint [L’Ouverture]...It is well that they should know what one of their own color could do for his race."
In 1864, Charlotte returned to New England. After the Civil War ended, she became the Secretary of the Teachers Committee of the New England Freedmen’s Union Commission. She moved back to South Carolina and taught there for a bit before moving again, this time to Washington DC, to teach at the city’s sole college prep school for Black students.
It was there that Charlotte met Rev. Francis Grimke, a formerly enslaved man who had been freed after the Civil War. The couple married in 1878. In 1880, Charlotte gave birth to a daughter. Tragically their daughter died six months later.
Charlotte and Francis shared a passion for activism and were leaders in the growing Black community of wealth in DC. Francis was a co-founder of the NAACP. Charlotte helped to found the National Association of Colored Women. Other members of their circle included Frederick Douglass and Mary Church Terrell.
Throughout her life, Charlotte continued to use her skills as a writer to call attention to issues of injustice including Jim Crow laws and racist violence.
In 1885, Charlotte and Francis moved to Florida, though Charlotte returned north periodically due to poor health.
On July 23, 1914, Charlotte Grimke died in Washington, DC. She was 76 years old.
All month, we’re talking about Activists. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly. Follow us on facebook and instagram @encyclopediawomannica and follow me directly on twitter @jennymkaplan.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!