Mary Weston Fordham (c.1862–1905) was an African American poet and teacher. She published the poetry collection Magnolia Leaves in 1897.
Biography
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Mary Weston Fordham was born in Charleston, South Carolina likely around the year 1843.[1] Her parents were Louise Bonneau and Rev. Samuel Weston.[2] Her parents and extended family were skilled laborers and land owners. She became a poet and an educator. She ran a school for African American children during the American Civil War. After the war, she worked as a teacher for the American Missionary Association.[3] Her poetry indicates that she was the mother of six children, all of whom died.[2]
Her collection Magnolia Leaves includes 66 poems[1] and offers a presentation of African American families during the Reconstruction Era. The introduction to the book is written by Booker T. Washington,[1] in which he reflects on his concerns for African American families. The tone and subject of Fordham's poetry matches that of many white female poets of the period: sentimentality, moral virtues, and explorations of death, motherhood, patriotism, and Christianity.[2]
Published works
edit- Fordham, Mary Weston (1897). Magnolia Leaves, Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell Co.
References
edit- ^ a b c "Biographies". Digital.nypl.org. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
- ^ a b c "Mary Weston Fordham" in African-American Poetry of the Nineteenth Century: An Anthology edited by Joan R. Sherman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992: 441. ISBN 0-252-06246-9
- ^ "Mary Weston Fordham". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
Further reading
edit- Gardner, Eric; Henry Louis Gates Jr.; and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (eds). "Mary Weston Fordham", African American National Biography, Oxford African American Studies Center
- Goven, Sandra Y.; and Jessie Carney Smith, editor (1996). "Mary Weston Fordham", Notable Black American Women
External links
edit- Works by Mary Weston Fordham at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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