FOUNDING WRITERS: The Ladies

  • Between 1600 and 1800, a remarkable group of men and women helped to found the thirteen colonies and, eventually, the United States. While early settlers were often occupied with the daunting day-to-day business of survival, and later colonists--especially as the Revolution approached--tried to navigate the often dangerous political waters that could make daily life risky, several of these hearty, brave souls found time to write. Early works tended to be journals and narratives, but a few let their imaginations soar and wrote poetry and fictional narratives. The later 18th century saw a decided shift towards political and social concerns: Freedom from British Rule, the Constitution, Slavery, and Women’s Rights were frequently the topics of brilliant fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
  • Ann Hutchinson (1591-1643) The Examination
  • Anne Bradstreet (1612?-1672): Poetry
  • Mary Rowlandson (1635?-1678) Narrative of the Captivity
  • Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727): The Journal of Madam Knight
  • Elizabeth Drinker (1735-1807) The Diary
  • Phyllis Wheatley (1753?-1784) Poetry
  • Susanna Rowson (1762?-1824) Charlotte Temple

Recommended Media

When we think of women writing in early America, three names usually come up immediately: Anne Bradstreet (1612–72), an immigrant to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, published The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America, a collection of her poetry, in 1650, and a posthumous collection with new material in 1678. Mary Rowlandson (1637–1711) spent nearly three months of captivity with the Narragansett tribe in 1676 before returning to her settlement in Lancaster, Massachusetts; her book describing these events, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1682), is the most well-known instance of the captivity narrative genre. Sarah Kemble Knight (1666–1727) kept a journal of her journey from Boston to New York in 1704–5, describing in lively and humorous detail her adventures on the road, an account first published in 1825 as The Journal of Madam Knight. The isolated voices of these three writers alone have long sustained the myths that (1) early American women wrote little and (2) “early America” was the same thing as the present-day northeastern United States. In the past few decades, those myths have been overturned and are further debunked when we read further: Elizabeth Drinker, whose remarkable Diary gives us a day-to-day account of “real” life in early America; Phillis Wheatley, a slave who wrote poetry and challenged long-held beliefs about African-Americans; Susanna Rowson, who writes Charlotte Temple, the first best-selling novel in America. Scholars of women's literature have identified important women's writing spanning the full range of New World experience, levels of literacy, social position, wealth, and national orientation. At the same time, those working in post-colonial and hemispheric studies have redefined the terms “colonial,” “American,” and “writing.”[adapted from Cambridge University Press]

Suggested Reading

Ann Hutchinson (1591-1643) The Examination Mary Rowlandson (1635?-1678) Narrative of the Captivity Anne Bradstreet (1612?-1672): Poetry Elizabeth Ashbridge (1713-1755) Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge Elizabeth Drinker (1735-1807) The Diary Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727): The Journal of Madam Knight Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814): The Defeat Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820) On the Equality of the Sexes Hannah Webster Foster (1758-1840) The Coquette Phyllis Wheatley (1753?-1784) Poetry Susanna Rowson (1762?-1824) Charlotte Temple
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