Frances E. W. Harper
September 24, 1825 – February 22, 1911
The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s birth. The Center for Black Digital Research/#DigBlk is hosting #Harper200, a slate of exciting scholarly and arts programming and community events to commemorate Harper’s life and legacy. Events include:
- A nationwide Read-a-thon January–April, 2025. Check it out!
- A major Frances E. W. Harper digital exhibit for teaching and research with curricula geared toward both K-12 and college students
- An academic symposium to be held Sept. 19–21, 2025 at Penn State University
- An original performance of dance, poetry, and music with events held in the places she lived and worked. Debuting Sept. 20 at PSU’s Center for the Performing Arts
- Transcribe Harper, featuring Harper’s papers, starting on her 200th birthday, Sept. 25th
- A Frances Harper Mural in her adopted home of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia, Fall 2025
- An exciting special issue of new poetry in conversation with Harper’s poetry, life, and legacy with poetry workshops in schools, community centers, and beyond
Stay tuned for updates throughout the year.
Have a Frances E. W. Harper event to add to our Harper events page? Let us know at digblk@psu.edu.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was an author and activist whose groundbreaking legacy has been foundational for Black women writers and organizers alike. Born free in Baltimore, orphaned at an early age, and adopted into her activist uncle’s household, she grew up to become the most popular Black poet and prolific Black novelist of the nineteenth century. As a young woman and as a seasoned activist, Harper broke through barriers in too many arenas to count: as a woman anti-slavery speaker, as a Black woman in higher education, as a writer, as a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and as an organizational leader in the movements for Black and women’s political rights and dignity. To learn more on Frances Harper, please see our digital exhibit “Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200.”
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