Thread by @NonHumanMedia1

Maria Stewart was a journalist, educator, abolitionist, and after the Civil War became the director of housekeeping services at Freedmen's Hospital

She was the first Black woman to publish political writings and to give public lectures to mixed audiences
#WomensHistoryMonth 🧵

Maria Miller was born free in Hartford, CT, 1803, but orphaned at five

She was "bound out" as a domestic servant to a family of clergyman until 15

At the age of 23 she married James W. Stewart, a War of 1812 veteran, and settled in Boston as part of a small Black middle class

While living in Boston the Stewarts became admirers of David Walker, a clothing shop owner and member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association, the first abolitionist organization in Boston

In 1829 Walker published his highly controversial and influential 'Appeal'

Random fact, the Stewarts actually lived in the same house that David Walker and his wife Eliza had previously lived in from 1827 to 1829, 81 Joy Street

The Stewarts moved in after the Walkers relocated to Brigde Street

In 1829 James Stewart fell ill and died and David Walker died under mysterious circumstances in 1830

After these events, Maria Stewart felt called upon by God to write and took her writings to William Lloyd Garrison

Her first writings appeared in the Liberator in 1831

Stewart was a fierce critic of White Christians calling them "hypocrites" and "vipers" and criticized the North as well writing:

"Tell us no more of Southern slavery; for with few exceptions, I consider our condition but little better than that."

A few of my favorite quotes from Maria Stewart from her writings and public speeches

Her public speaking career only lasted three years because she was considered too radical and broke taboos of women speaking to male/mixed audiences

She relocated to New York where she worked as an educator and published her 1st book Productions of Maria Stewart in 1935

Although Stewart never returned to journalistsic writing after leaving Boston, she continued to be dedicated to abolitionists causes and helped raise money for the North Star, a Rochester, NY newspaper started by Frederick Douglass

In 1852 Stewart moved to Baltimore opening her own private school but the venture failed and Maria became destitute

Because white people had cheated Maria out of her husband's substantial estate, she had no safety net except for the charity of the local Black community

In 1861 Stewart moved to D.C teaching once again

After the war ended she became the director of housekeeping services at Freedmen's Hospital, which would later become the Howard University Hospital

In 1871 she bought a building near Howard and founded a successful school

In 1879 Maria Stewart was able to take advantage of new legislation that gave pensions to widows and soldiers of The War of 1812

Still feeling that her God given calling was writing, she used the money to publish her 2nd book, Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart

On December 17th, 1879, Maria Stewart passed on in Freedmen's Hospital at the age of 76 and was buried at Graceland Cemetery 🕊

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