Julia Ward Howe
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Julia Ward Howe
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Julia Ward Howe, 1902. (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
Julia Ward Howe, 1902. (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
For more information on Julia Ward Howe, visit Britannica.com.
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography:
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Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), American author and reformer, wrote the words for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Julia Ward, the daughter of a noted banker, was born in New York City on May 27, 1819, and was privately educated there. Rejecting a life of cultivated leisure, she married Samuel Gridley Howe, a physician, reformer, and pioneer teacher of the blind. They lived in Boston and edited the Commonwealth, an antislavery paper. Howe's first book, a collection of poems, was published in 1854; thereafter she wrote many volumes of verse, travel sketches, and essays. None was so popular as her patriotic song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic, " which she composed in a tent one night after visiting military camps. Because of this song she became one of the best-known and most widely honored women in America.
Though Howe was an ardent unionist in the Civil War, other conflicts repelled her. As a Francophile, she was horrified by the Franco-Prussian War, and she became president of the American Branch of the Woman's International Peace Association in 1871. It failed, as women were not yet ready for such work.
Howe did better at interesting them in more domestic concerns. She helped found the New England Woman's Club in 1868. That same year she organized the New England Woman Suffrage Association and later the American Woman Suffrage Association. The latter was a product of the conflict within the suffrage movement over strategy and principles. New York feminists, led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, wanted the cause to embrace many social and political issues, from the marriage question to labor unions. More conservative Boston feminists, such as Mrs. Howe and Lucy Stone, focused on woman's rights alone. They encouraged men to join, whereas the New Yorkers believed that men compromised their efforts. For over 20 years these differences divided the movement into two organizations: the American Woman Suffrage Association and the Stanton-Anthony National Woman Suffrage Association. After the National came around to the American's point of view, they united in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Thus, Howe's cautious strategy was adopted, though it would take another 30 years to get woman suffrage.
Howe died on Oct. 17, 1910. She is remembered chiefly for "The Battle Hymn, " in some ways the least of her accomplishments. Yet there is justice in this. She wrote it to help free the slaves; later it became the anthem of the woman suffrage movement. Even later it was used by civil rights workers. In 1968, when Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train carried his body from New York to Washington, "The Battle Hymn" was sung as a dirge by mourners.
Further Reading
Julia Ward Howe's memoir, Reminiscences, 1819-1899 (1899), is useful. The standard biography is Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, Julia Ward Howe (2 vols., 1915). See also Louise Hall Tharp, Three Saints and a Sinner: Julia Ward Howe, Louisa, Annie, and Sam Ward (1956).
Additional Sources
Clifford, Deborah Pickman, Mine eyes have seen the glory: a biography of Julia Ward Howe, Boston: Little, Brown, 1979.
Grant, Mary Hetherington, Private woman, public person: an account of the life of Julia Ward Howe from 1819-1868, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson Pub., 1994.
Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, Atlanta, Ga.: Cherokee Pub. Co., 1990.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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Julia Ward Howe
Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910, American author and social reformer, b. New York City. She assisted her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, in his philanthropic projects and in editing the Boston Commonwealth, an abolitionist paper. Her first book of poetry was published in 1854. Mrs. Howe wrote and lectured in behalf of woman suffrage, African-American emancipation, and other causes, and helped found a world peace organization. In Nov., 1861, after watching Union troops march into battle, she wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," her most famous work. It was published in the Atlantic Monthly in Feb., 1862. The American Academy of Arts and Letters elected her as its first woman member (1908). Besides writing several volumes of poetry, she was the author of Sex and Education (1874), Modern Society (1881), and a biography of Margaret Fuller (1883).
Bibliography
See her Reminiscences, 1819-1899 (1899); biographies by her daughters L. E. Richards and M. H. Elliott (1915, repr. 1970) and by V. H. Ziegler (2004); L. H. Tharp, Three Saints and a Sinner (1956).
Houghton Mifflin Chronology of US Literature:
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Works by Julia Ward Howe
(1819-1910)
| 1854 | Passion-Flowers. Howe's first publication appears anonymously. Her intensely emotional lyrics are a popular success. A second volume, Words for the Hour, would follow in 1857, and her final collection, Later Lyrics, would be issued in 1866. |
| 1857 | The World's Own. Howe's drama about the seduction of a village maiden who extracts merciless revenge on her seducer draws criticism for its unapologetic portrait of an aggressive and powerful female. |
| 1862 | "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." This patriotic verse is set to the tune of the popular song "John Brown's Body," which Howe had sung along with Union soldiers during a visit to Washington, D.C., after the Battle of Bull Run. The Unitarian leader James Freeman Clarke had suggested she compose the new lyrics, which first appear in the Atlantic Monthly in February. The song wins immediate acclaim and is sung by American soldiers throughout the Civil War and ensuing conflicts. A subsequent collection of her verse, Later Lyrics, would appear in 1866. |
| 1874 | Sex and Education. Howe had contributed to and edited this volume produced in response to E. H. Clarke's Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for Girls (1872), which argues that the rest girls require during menstruation makes higher education and coeducation impractical and dangerous to their procreative capabilities. Howe, along with Mrs. Horace Mann, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, and others, refutes Clarke's assertions. |
Quotes By:
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Julia Ward Howe
Quotes:
"The strokes of the pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness."
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
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Contents
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Biography
Born Julia Ward in New York City, she was the fourth child of banker Samuel Ward and occasional poet Julia Rush Cutler. Among her siblings was Samuel Cutler Ward. Her father was a well-to-do banker. Her mother, granddaughter of William Greene (August 16, 1731 – November 30, 1809), Governor of Rhode Island and his wife Catharine Ray, died when Julia was five after having borne seven children by the age of 27.
In 1843, she married Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 – 1876), a physician and reformer who founded the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] They announced their engagement quite suddenly on February 21; though Howe had courted Julia for a time, he had more recently shown an interest in her sister Louisa.[2]
Her book, Passion-Flowers, was published in December 1853. The book collected intensely personal poems and was written without the awareness of her husband, who was then editing the Free Soil newspaper The Commonwealth.[3]
Social activism
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"The Battle Hymn of the Republic", performed by Frank C. Stanley, Elise Stevenson, and a mixed quartet in 1908.
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic", Modern Jazz arrangement arranged by Eric Richards, performed by United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note.
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Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after she and her husband visited Washington, D. C. and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861. During the trip, her friend James Freeman Clarke suggested she write new words to the song "John Brown's Body", which she did on November 19.[4] The song was set to William Steffe's already-existing music and Howe's version was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It quickly became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the American Civil War.
After the war Howe focused her activities on the causes of pacifism and women's suffrage. In 1870 she wrote her Mother's Day Proclamation. It was a "Mother's Day for Peace", asking women from the world to join for world's peace. In 1872, she asked that "Mother's Day" be celebrated on the 2nd of June.[5][6][7][8] Her efforts were not successful, and by 1893 she was wondering if the 4th of July could be remade into "Mother's Day".[5] From 1872 to 1879, she assisted Lucy Stone and Henry Brown Blackwell in editing Woman's Journal.
After her husband's death in 1876, Howe focused more on her interests in reform. She was the founder and president of the Association of American Women, a group which advocated for women's education, from 1876 to 1897. She also served as president of organizations like the New England Women's Club, the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, and the New England Suffrage Association, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).[9]
Death
Howe died of pneumonia October 17, 1910, at her home, Oak Glen, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, at the age of 91.[10] She is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[11]
After her death, her children collaborated on a biography, published in 1916. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.[12]
Honors
On January 28, 1908, Howe became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Howe was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
She has been honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 14¢ Great Americans series postage stamp issued in 1987.
The Julia Ward Howe School of Excellence in Chicago's Austin community is named in her honor.
Her Rhode Island home, Oak Glen, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Works and collections
Poetry
- Passion-Flowers (1854)
- Words for the Hour (1857)
- From Sunset Ridge: Poems Old and New (1898)[9]
- Later Lyrics (1866)
- At Sunset (published posthumously, 1910)[9]
Other works
- The Hermaphrodite. Incomplete, but probably composed between 1846 and 1847. Published by University of Nebraska Press, 2004
- From the Oak to the Olive (travel writing, 1868)[13]
- Modern Society (essays, 1881)[9]
- Margaret Fuller (Marchesa Ossoli) (biography, 1883)[9]
- Woman's work in America (1891)
- Is Polite Society Polite? (essays, 1895)[9]
- Reminiscences: 1819–1899 (autobiography, 1899)[9]
See also
- Ann Jarvis
- Gardiner, Maine Howe's home for many years
- Samuel Gridley and Julia Ward Howe House
References
- ^ Richards, Laura E., and Maud Howe Elliott. Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910, vol. I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916.
- ^ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 33. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ^ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 134–135. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ^ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 208. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ^ a b LEIGH Eric Schmidt (1997). Princeton University Press. ed. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays (reprint, illustrated ed.). p. 252, 348 (footnote 17 of chapter 5). ISBN 0-691-01721-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=maF8mTPsJqsC. citin Deborah Pickman Clifford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), 187, 207, and Julia Ward Howe, "How the Fourth of July Should Be Celebrated", Forum 15 (July 1983); 574
- ^ The History of Mother's Day from The Legacy Project, a Legacy Center (Canada) website
- ^ Virgina Bernhard (2002). "Mother's Day". In Joseph M. Hawes, Elizabeth F. Shores. The family in America: an encyclopedia (3, illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 714. ISBN 1-57607-232-0, 9781576072325. http://books.google.com/books?id=z55xx8_P08UC&pg=PT714&dq=%22mother%27s+day%22+origin&lr=&as_brr=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- ^ The First Anniversary of 'Mother's Day'", The New York Times, June 3, 1874, p. 8: "'Mother's Day,' which was inaugurated in this city on the 2nd of June, 1872, by Mrs. Julia Ward Howards[sic], was celebrated last night at Plimpton Hall by a mother's peace meeting..."
- ^ a b c d e f g Ziegler, Valarie H. Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003: 148–149. ISBN 1-56338-418-3
- ^ Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 71. ISBN 0-19-503186-5
- ^ Corbett, William. Literary New England: A History and Guide. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1993: 106. ISBN 0-571-19816-3
- ^ Ziegler, Valarie H. Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003: 11. ISBN 1-56338-418-3
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=dfRVAAAAYAAJ
Further reading
- Representative women of New England. Boston: New England Historical Pub. Co., 1904.
- Richards, Laura Elizabeth. Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916. 2 vol.
- Clifford, Deborah Pickman. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1978.
External links
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Works and papers
- Works by Julia Ward Howe at Project Gutenberg
- Howe Papers at Harvard University
- Articles by Howe Archive at "Making of America" project, Cornell University Library
- Poetry at Representative Poetry Online (University of Toronto)
- Mother's Day Proclamation (1870)
- Julia Ward Howe.org Electronic archive of Howe's life and works
- Finding Aid for the Julia Ward Howe Papers at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Julia Ward Howe battle hymn from the Julia Ward Howe Papers, 1891-1898 at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Free scores by Julia Ward Howe in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Biographies
- Julia Ward Howe, biography by Laura E. Richards, online at the University of Pennsylvania
- Biography Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography
- Julia Ward Howe at Answers.com
Honors
- National Women's Hall of Fame
- Julia Ward Howe at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
- Plaque on the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. marking where Howe wrote the Hymn
- Welcome to Howe Elementary School at www.mtlsd.org
Family
Other
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Gale Encyclopedia of Biography
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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Houghton Mifflin Chronology of US Literature
The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
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Critic
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Massachusetts Quarterly Review
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Laura Elizabeth Richards
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