In the mist of the Reconstruction Era leading up through The Gilded Age, the 1700s and 1900s produced numerous innovations in literature especially in African-American literature written by women. With the start of the first piece of literature written by an African-American woman, Lucy Terry, to Harriet E. Wilson who was the first African-American woman to have a novel published on the continent of North America. These pioneers of literature have paved the way not only for the African-American community, but for gender equality. Many of these writers were abolitionist as well as Proto-feminist whose cause was to unveil the injustices imposed on their race and gender and to call into question the morals of society. Most of the women presented in this text were the emblem of their art whether it being writing, education, or public speaking such as, Sojourner Truth, a lecturer and women's rights activist who spoke on the discrimination of race in conjunction with the issue of gender oppression. These women have broken down the barriers between the races and the genders setting the foundation for the abolishment of slavery and the women's rights movement.
1773-Phillis Wheatley's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" was published
Excerpt from Phillis Wheatley's "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth": from "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral":
"No more, America, in mournful strain,
Of wrongs and grievance unredressed complain;
No longer shall thou dread the iron chain" (74).
1832- The lecture “Why Sit Ye Here and Die?” was presented
Excerpt from Maria W. Stewart's "Why Sit Ye Here and Die?":
"Let our girls possess what amiable qualities of soul they may; let their characters be fair and spotless as innocence itself; let their natural taste and ingenuity be what they may; it is impossible for scarce an individual of them to rise above the condition of servants."
1851- When the "Ain't I a Woman?" speech was presented
Excerpt from Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?":
"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them."
1855- The ballad "Bar Fights" was published
Excerpt from Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight":
"Before he had time to fight,
Before he did the Indians see,
Was shot and k**ed immediately."
1859- The novel, "Our Nig" was published
Excerpt from the book "Our Nig" written by Harriet E. Wilson:
"Mag's new home was soon contaminated by
the publicity of her fall; she had a feeling of
degradation oppressing her; but she resolved to
be circumspect, and try to regain in a measure
what she had lost."
1861- The book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” was published
Excerpt from Harriet Ann Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl":
"Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own." (119)
1875- "Violets and Other Tales" was Alice Dunbar Nelson's first published work
Excerpt from Alice Dunbar Nelson's "The Woman" which was a short story in the book "Violets and Other Tales":
"'They say' that men don't admire this type of woman, that they prefer the soft, dainty, winning, mindless creature who cuddles into men's arms, agrees to everything they say, and looks upon them as a race of gods turned loose upon this earth for the edification of womankind. Well, may be so, but there is one thing positive, they certainly respect the independent one, and admire her, too, even if it is at a distance, and that in itself is something." (27)
1892- “A Voice from the South: By A Woman from the South” was published
Excerpt from Anna J. Cooper's "Womanhood: A Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race" from the book, “A Voice from the South: By A Woman from the South”:
"That the race cannot be effectually lifted up till its women are truly elevated we take as proven. It is not for us to dwell on the needs, the neglects, and the ways of succor, pertaining to the black woman of the South." (42)