Born: 1814 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Died: 1884 (Philadelphia)
Biography:
Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis (1814–1884) was an American poet and abolitionist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She co-founded The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and contributed many poems to the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator. She was an important figure in the history of abolitionism and feminism.
Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis, née Forten, was born in 1814 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was one of the Forten Sisters, with her mother being Charlotte Vandine Forten and her father being the African-American abolitionist, James Forten. Sarah’s sisters were Harriet Forten Purvis (1810–1875) and Margaretta Forten (1808–1875).
The three sisters, along with their mother, played a significant role in founding the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Although not the first female Anti-Slavery society, this organization was particularly important due to its role in the origins of American Feminism.
Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis was a talented poet, often writing under the pen names Ada and Magawisca, as well as using her own name. However, some controversy surrounds the attribution of certain poems to Forten Purvis under the pen name Ada. Scholars have argued that some of these poems may have been inaccurately attributed to her.
Forten Purvis’s poetry mainly focused on the experiences of slavery and womanhood. Two of her most well-known works are An Appeal to Woman and The Grave of the Slave, both of which were published in the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. The latter poem was even set to music by Frank Johnson and became an anthem at antislavery gatherings. An Appeal to Woman was utilized in the pamphlets for the Anti-Slavery Convention of New York in 1837.
In 1838, Sarah married Joseph Purvis, with whom she had eight children, including William B. Purvis. Joseph was the brother of Robert Purvis, who was married to Sarah’s sister Harriet. Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis passed away in 1884 in Philadelphia. However, some works mistakenly state that she died in 1857, possibly due to the misattribution of her poems.
Education played a vital role in Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis’s life. Along with her sisters, she received a private education and was a member of the Female Literary Association, a sisterhood of Black women founded by Sarah Mapps Douglass, another prominent abolitionist in Philadelphia. Through this organization, Sarah anonymously developed essays and poems, starting her literary legacy.
Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis’s written work often explored the topics of motherhood and daughterhood within the context of slavery. These perspectives stemmed from her personal experiences, as mentioned by Julie Winch, a writer of History at the University of Massachusetts.