A Rhode Island original

"Frances Harriet Whipple (1805-1878) was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Although she was the descendant of two of the state's first families, her father's sudden impoverishment (in 1817) forced her to support herself from a young age. She gained early recognition for her poems that appeared in local papers, and in 1829 published "The Original," establishing herself as one of America's first female editors. Almost a decade later she wrote one of the few published narratives about a free black woman, The Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge. Whipple also wrote extensively for the temperance and abolition movements and for workers' rights." "O'Dowd, contextualizing her analysis of Whipple's key works in nineteenth century politics and culture, has created a portrait of a woman well ahead of her time."--BOOK JACKET.