Frances Wright
Frances Wright (1795-1852) was both a sought-after lecturer and a controversial figure in early nineteenth-century America. Born in Scotland, this pioneering freethinker and abolitionist emigrated to America in her twenties and became friends with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1821, she published Views of Society and Manners in America . In 1825, she founded the short-lived community Nashoba in western Tennessee for freed slaves. In 1828, she joined Robert Dale Owen's socialist...See more
Frances Wright (1795-1852) was both a sought-after lecturer and a controversial figure in early nineteenth-century America. Born in Scotland, this pioneering freethinker and abolitionist emigrated to America in her twenties and became friends with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1821, she published Views of Society and Manners in America . In 1825, she founded the short-lived community Nashoba in western Tennessee for freed slaves. In 1828, she joined Robert Dale Owen's socialist community at New Harmony, Indiana, and helped him edit his New Harmony Gazette . The next year she and Owen moved to New York City, where they published Free Enquirer , which advocated liberalized divorce laws; birth control; free, state-run, secular education; organization of the disadvantaged working class; and emancipation of slaves. See less
