Essays

"Never before reprinted outside of original publication."--Publishers Weekly "She may have gone somewhere in Europe. She may have moved to the West or to Canada. Or she may have died....The sixteen didactic essays are simple in style and uncomplicated in thought. Their merit rests in the fact that they have been preserved and display some historic continuity between the early Afro-American writers and those of the post-Civil War period. She is an early example of an apparently young woman determined to live in an antagonistic culture without becoming antagonistic, proving to herself and to her world that the concerns of life are neither 'black' nor 'white' but are simply human concerns. ...As she examined piety and offered tributes to her friendes, as she wrote essays that were in essence catechisms for those who wished to live devout lives, and as she wrote verses on various subjects, she plaintively seems to remind later generations: 'Forget me not.'"--Kenny J. Williams, from his Introduction "Never before reprinted outside of original publication."--Publishers Weekly "She may have gone somewhere in Europe. She may have moved to the West or to Canada. Or she may have died....The sixteen didactic essays are simple in style and uncomplicated in thought. Their merit rests in the fact that they have been preserved and display some historic continuity between the early Afro-American writers and those of the post-Civil War period. She is an early example of an apparently young woman determined to live in an antagonistic culture without becoming antagonistic, proving to herself and to her world that the concerns of life are neither 'black' nor 'white' but are simply human concerns. ...As she examined piety and offered tributes to her friendes, as she wrote essays that were in essence catechisms for those who wished to live devout lives, and as she wrote verses on various subjects, she plaintively seems to remind later generations: 'Forget me not.'"--Kenny J. Williams, from his Introduction