Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House

Address: 1006 Bainbridge St, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Neighborhood: Bella Vista

Website: https://www.nps.gov/places/frances-ellen-watkins-harper-house.htm

Description: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born of free black parents in Baltimore in 1825. She became a writer and social activist and participated in the abolitionist, black rights, women’s suffrage, and temperance movements. Harper began her career as an abolitionist spokesperson in 1854 when the Maine Anti-Slavery Society hired her to lecture in New England and lower Canada. After her death, W. E. B. Du Bois stated that she deserved most to be remembered “for her attempts to forward literature among colored people.” Harper lived in this Philadelphia row house from 1870 until her death in 1911.

Resources for Researchers

• Frances Ellen Watkins Bio
  • https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/getting-to-know-frances-harper-pa-activist-for-civil-rights-women-s-suffrage/article_3d2ab15e-4c3e-575b-bd37-8cbcd4fcd99f.html

Information for Visitors

• Not open to the public

Subthemes

• Changemakers – social reform, racial justice, political movements
• Celebrating diversity – African American, women, and minority stories
• Faith and ideals – religion, philosophy,  political ideology

Link to NHL Nomination Form

• Nomination Number: 76001663
• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GJ9c61F4O0jd4NgscDKeN6bpjb8WT_jU