Going Against the Grain Part 4

Maria Miller Stewart was a freedom fighter for African American women and used her literacy to get her point across, even in very few people were listening. Stewart had a small chance at a formal education and received the minor education she had from Sabbath schools. Stewart was an indentured servant from the age of five through thirteen in Connecticut. At the age of 23, Stewart married a 47 year old shipping agent and they lived in Boston, a site of political activity among African Americans. Stewart  was able to catch a first hand glance at social and political activity from  the people in her neighborhood including David walker, a clothing store owner who was viewed as a radical because he was a writer for the Freedom Journal. The Freedom Journal published articles about African American struggles worldwide. 

In December of 1829, James Stewart, Maria’s husband died  from an illness. Maria was left in poverty even though she was meant to inherit one-third of her husband’s estate. James’ white business partners, however, took all of his estate. After a two year long legal battle where Maria faced racial and gender discrimination, she was left with virtually nothing.

Instead of confiding in her faith after the events that had occurred to her, Stewart decided to speak out for African American women. Stewart had the life experience of discrimination and racism to stand up and preach for her rights as both an African American and a woman. Stewart decided to use hr literacy as a gateway to solve the problems she came across in her community as well as take a political stand. Stewart asked herself these crucial questions: “If not me, then who? If not now, when?” She answered these questions through pamphlets and public lectures. Stewart’s speeches of freedom fighting and empowerment were short lived due to the fact that she was a woman. She moved around to New York, Baltimore and D.C serving as a teacher. In D.C., she became a matron at the Freedmen’s Hospital. Stewart was able to submit a claim for pension as the widow of a war veteran before he death in 1879. This last act before her death showed that even at old age she was fighting for rights for African Americans.

After reading this excerpt, from Traces, I have a newfound respect for the women who experienced similar struggles such as Maria Miller Stewart. I was shocked reading about the fact that Stewart was denied any right to her husband’s estate even though it was written in his will. I think it’s ironic how the Constitution was signed in July of 1776, but 60 years later, African Americans are fighting for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in which all men are entitled to. I respect Stewart’s decision to keep fighting for her rights, even when nobody was listening. It’s people like Stewart that are the backbone for feminist movements that are in effect today. I also applaud the men and women who lost their lives in the fight for freedom because it gives us the freedom to be able to read their stories, learn from it and pass it on to future generations.

Abolitionist Movement 

Works Cited

Royster, Jacqueline J. "Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy" in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

“The Abolitionist Movement.” 2010. The History Channel website. Sep 18 2010, 7:36 http://www.history.com/videos/abolition-and-the-underground-railroad.