Daughter of the Revolution: The Major Nonfiction Works of Pauline Hopkins (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas

Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas (MELA)

by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (Editor), Lurie, Ira Dworkin (Editor)

Pauline E. Hopkins (1859–1930) came to prominence in the early years of the twentieth century as an outspoken writer, editor, and critic. Frequently recognized for her first novel, Contending Forces , she is currently one of the most widely read and studied African American novelists from that period. While nearly all of Hopkins’s fiction remains in print, there is very little of her nonfiction available. This reader brings together dozens of her hard-to-find essays, including longer nonfiction works such as Famous Men of the Negro Race and The Dark Races of the Twentieth Century , some of which are published here for the first time in their entirety. Through these works, along with two juvenile essays from the 1870s, a personal letter, and two speeches, readers encounter a voice that is committed to constructing an international discourse on race, recovering the militant abolitionist tradition to combat Jim Crow, celebrating black political participation during and after the Reconstruction era, articulating the connections between race and labor, and insisting on equal rights for women.  Hopkins’s writing will challenge contemporary scholars to rethink their understanding of black activism and modernity in the early twentieth century.  

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1861

About the author

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859 – August 13, 1930) was a prominent African-American novelist, journalist, playwright, historian, and editor. She is considered a pioneer in her use of the romantic novel to explore social and racial themes. Her work reflects the influence of W. E. B. Du Bois.

She also wrote under the pseudonym Sarah A. Allen.