Stewart, Maria W. PDF

Stewart, Maria W. Stewart, Maria W. (b. 1803; d. 17 December 1879), activist and lecturer. Harry A. Reed https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.44420 Published in print: 19 May 2005 Published online: 01 December 2006 A version of this article originally appeared in Black Women in Amer...

Stewart, Maria W. Stewart, Maria W. (b. 1803; d. 17 December 1879), activist and lecturer. Harry A. Reed https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.44420 Published in print: 19 May 2005 Published online: 01 December 2006 A version of this article originally appeared in Black Women in America, 2nd ed. “What if I am a woman?” intoned Maria W. Stewart during a speech in Boston on 21 September 1833. Throughout her brief oration, she reminded her mixed audience of women and men that women, even in the ancient world, had been honored for their wisdom, prudence, religiosity, and achievements. Yet her own people of color, she noted, had failed to accord her similar recognition. Maria W. Stewart, born in Hartford, Connecticut, took up public speaking as a means of supporting herself following her husband James’s death. Her marriage in 1826 at the Reverend Thomas Paul’s African Baptist Church marked her as a member of Boston’s small black middle class, but she had been cheated of a comfortable inheritance by unscrupulous white Boston merchants and lawyers. Before her public speaking tour (1832-1833), she had published a small pamphlet, Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build (1831). During her speaking career, she also published Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart (1832). William Lloyd Garrison reported all four of her speeches in the pages of his Liberator , the best-known abolitionist newspaper of the time. Thus, it was neither a stranger nor an outside agitator that sought to address the problems faced by black Boston and American blacks. Stewart’s speeches were not well received, however, because of the gender politics on nineteenth-century America. She was, after all, the first American-born woman to break the taboo against women participating in public political dialogues, a taboo held by black and white communities alike. Moreover, there was opposition to Stewart from within Boston’s conservative black political circles. Although she was married in the African Baptist Church, there is reason to believe that Stewart, at the time of her public speeches, was more influenced by the individuals and activities represented by Rev. Samuel Snowden’s African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1829, one of its members, David Walker, had published his controversial Walkers Appeal. Earlier, in 1826, the Massachusetts General Colored Association was founded. These two events laid the groundwork for Stewart’s advocacy of black self-determination and economic independence from even well-meaning whites. All three developments were part of a burgeoning radicalism among young black Bostonians and perhaps an implied criticism of Rev. Thomas Paul’s tendency to work consistently, although not exclusively, with white allies. In this fluctuating atmosphere, Mrs. Stewart was breaking new ground in black activism. No black leaders, male or female, had turned to the lecture circuit to air their views. Richard Allen of Philadelphia and Stewart’s fellow Bostonian, Thomas Paul, two major black spokespersons, had died in 1831. More importantly, since they were black clergymen, their orations came as pulpit and sermon literature. Only Page 1 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER (www.oxfordaasc.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Privacy Policy Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see and ). Legal Notice Subscriber: Pennsylvania State Univ. Library - Penn State; date: 14 October 2022 Stewart, Maria W. Prince Hall of the Masons spoke annually to his membership. Attendance was restricted, and Hall spoke as leader of the organization. His orations were later printed and distributed. Henry Highland Garnet’s first foray into political agitation did not happen until 1834. Mrs. Stewart’s offerings preceded by almost a decade the beginnings of Frederick Douglass’s illustrious career. Thus, there were no role models for Stewart’s actions. Her work was pioneering, but also brash and unprecedented, contributing to the backlash. In breaking a gender taboo in Boston, Stewart also challenged, unwittingly perhaps, conventional wisdom. Black female organizations like the Afric American Female Intelligence Society seemed to choose collective security as their preferred method of public activity. They operated within their organizational name, never as individuals. Significantly, the Afric American Female Intelligence Society publicized their mission statement, but historians have yet to uncover a membership list. The Afric American Female Intelligence Society was a blossoming organization, not yet mature. As such, it adhered to more accepted methodologies to express its political opinions. Working within the accepted organizational parameters limited the group’s activism to essential but behind-the-scenes tasks such as publicizing, fund raising, catering, and recruitment. Individual oratory was simply not a priority, nor was participatory parity the norm in mid-nineteenth century Boston. Not until 1833, with the founding of the Female Anti-Slavery Society, did women activists have the opportunity to utilize collective security and individual voice. Unfortunately, that same year, Stewart’s turn on the lecture circuit drew to a close. Yet violent reactions, in word and deed, to women on the political podium continued. White female activists like the Grimké sisters were ridiculed in the press, on the pulpit, and in person. A favorite pastime of male opponents of female lecturers was pelting the offending female with rotten produce. Mercifully, Stewart was spared that humiliation. Although rebuffed in her attempt at public political speaking, Stewart had a distinguished career as a public school teacher in New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. In 1879, while applying for a widow’s pension from her second husband, she was reunited with her old friend and publisher, William Lloyd Garrison. She subsequently published, at her own expense, an enlarged edition of Meditations. Shortly thereafter, she died and was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Washington. The emergence of black and women’s histories reintroduced scholars to the life and work of Maria W. Stewart, but this pioneering black political activist still lacks a critical biographical assessment. Her life and her continuing obscurity illustrate the double pressures of racism and sexism on the historical contributions of black women. Rather than being recognized as a significant advocate of black autonomy, she had been silenced until recently. Stewart’s speeches and writings issue a clear challenge to our contemporary world: black women’s need for self-determination cannot be addressed if it is only an adjunct to black men’s freedom. See also Abolition and Political Resistance. Page 2 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER (www.oxfordaasc.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Privacy Policy Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see and ). Legal Notice Subscriber: Pennsylvania State Univ. Library - Penn State; date: 14 October 2022 Stewart, Maria W. Bibliography Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America (1984). New York: William Morrow, 1996. Lerner, Gerda., ed. Black Women in America: A Documentary History (1972). New York: Vintage, 1992. Loewenberg, Bert James, and Ruth Bogin. Black Women in Nineteenth Century American Life: Their Words, Their Thoughts, Their Feelings. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976. Porter, Dorothy. “The Organized Educational Activities of Negro Literary Societies, 1828-1846, Journal of Negro Education, October 1936. Quarles, Benjamin. Black Abolitionists. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. Richardson, Marilyn, ed. Maria W. Stewart, America’s First Black Women Political Writer: Essays and Speeches. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. Stewart, Maria W. Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build. Pamphlet, 1831. Stewart, Maria W. Miller. Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart. Presented to the First African Baptist Church and Society, in the city of Boston. Boston: Garrison and Knapp, 1832. See also Abolition Movement Political Resistance Page 3 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER (www.oxfordaasc.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Privacy Policy Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see and ). Legal Notice Subscriber: Pennsylvania State Univ. Library - Penn State; date: 14 October 2022