Created by Katie Wagner on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 19:39
Description:
Born on May 23rd of 1810, Margaret Fuller was the female face of the Transcendentalist movement. As an inspiration to many, Fuller advocated for womens rights to education, property ownership, and true freedom. The portait above was painted by european artist Thomas Hicks in the city of Rome amongst her private pregnancy in 1848. This time period was notorious for their oil painting as the one created of Fuller because of the new found vibrance these minerals provided (Service). Although Fuller was commonly catagorized as a proud transcendentalist icon, she did not always agree with the philosophies of her collegues Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. She advocated more or social reforms for minories compared to the self empowerment trends of Transcendentalism. In Fuller's most famous work, Women in the 19th Century, she emphasised the need for widespread human rights that applied to all people. Pulled from her text, Fuller stated "Let us be wise, and not impede the soul. Let her work as she will. Let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. Let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white" (WebTeam).
Unlike her fellow transcendentalist leaders, Fuller did not live a full life with numerous publications. Passing at age 40, Fuller vanished at sea with her husband and toddler aged child on their travels back to the United States from Rome where the two fell in love and started a family. At the time of her passing she was supposedly writing a script relating to the Roman Republic that her husband was so interest by but her manuscripts were never recovered. Known for her advocation towards equal rights, Fuller has become one of the first successful women's rights activists of the 19th century.
Works Cited
Hudspeth, Robert. “The letters of Margaret Fuller.” Cornell University Press, VI, 18 Dec. 2018, https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501725227.
“Margaret Fuller.” National Portrait Gallery, 2016, npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2016.123.
Service, Robert. “How a 19th Century Concoction Transformed Oil Painting.” Science, 9 Jan. 2017, www.science.org/content/article/how-19th-century-concoction-transformed-....
WebTeam. “Margaret Fuller - Working towards Women’s Equality.” Federally Employed Women, 13 Jan. 2021, www.few.org/2016/08/01/margaret-fuller-working-toward-womens-equality/#:....