Charlotte Forten Grimké

Charlotte Forten's grandfather was a wealthy businessman of Philadelphia and an organizer of the abolition movement who opposed the return of freed slaves to Africa. Her father served in the 43rd United States Colored Infantry. Charlotte, born on August 17, 1837, had private tutors and then attended public schools and graduated with honors from the Salem Normal School in 1856. In 1862 she responded to the War Department's need for teachers of newly-freed children on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. She taught at Port Royal for two years, working with more than 2000 children and adults. Her diary reflects her delight at the great speed with which many learned, and also the great weariness at the end of day, the difficulty of creating lesson plans to meet the needs of the young students whom she describes as possessing "perpetual motion." She met Harriet Tubman who was living then in Beaufort. After the war she was a French translator for Scribner's and also worked in the Treasury Department in Washington. In 1878 she married Francis James Grimké the nephew of the famous Grimké sisters of abolitionist fame. She died on July 23, 1914.  The four women briefly noted on these blogs were born within 35 years (1803 to 1837) and can be described as women "in the beginning" who used their skills to make unique, heroic contributions for social and racial justice.  These pioneer dreamers lectured white and black audiences, they wrote and agitated and sought to put education as a universal need.  Many more women models exist and I hope you readers will add them to your lists.