Frances E. W. Harper

Iola Leroy or Shadows Uplifted Frances E. W. Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a poet and abolitionist. She joined the American Anti-Slavery Society as a traveling lecturer. Iola Leroy was published in 1892 and tells the story of a black slave and the south after the Civil War. Iola was the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner. She was rescued by a Union soldier. When given the opportunity to marry and pass for white she declines the offer and instead marries a black doctor and returns to South Carolina. Iola fights to uplift her race and searches for her family. Frances Harper tells the story of this young black woman along with moral lessons and practical life lessons.