Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). Portrait by John Elliott (1858-1925), 1910-1925. Courtesy Google Art Project and Wikimedia Commons.
Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American poet, abolitionist, and social activist, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
Life[]
Howe was born Julia Ward in New York City, the 4th child of banker Samuel Ward and occasional poet Julia Rush (Cutler). Among Julia's siblings was Samuel Cutler Ward. Her father was a well-to-do banker. Her mother, granddaughter of William Greene (August 16, 1731 - November 30, 1809), governor of Rhode Island, and his wife Catharine Ray, died when Julia was 5 after having borne 7 children by the age of 27.
In 1843, Julia Ward married Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876), a physician and reformer who founded the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] They announced their engagement quite suddenly on February 21; although Howe had courted Julia for a time, he had more recently shown an interest in her sister, Louisa.[2]
Her book, Passion-Flowers, was published in December 1853. The book collected intensely personal poems and was written without the awareness of her husband, who was then editing the Free Soil newspaper The Commonwealth.[3]
Social activism[]
Howe was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after she and her husband visited Washington, D.C. and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861. During the trip, her friend James Freeman Clarke suggested she write new words to the song "John Brown's Body", which she did on November 19.[4] The song was set to William Steffe's already-existing music and Howe's version was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It quickly became a popular song of the Union during the American Civil War.
After the war Howe focused her activities on the causes of pacifism and women's suffrage. In 1870 Howe was the first to proclaim Mother's Day, with her Mother's Day Proclamation. From 1872 to 1879, she assisted Lucy Stone and Henry Brown Blackwell in editing Woman's Journal.
Later years[]
Howe in 1908. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
After her husband's death in 1874, Howe focused more on her interests in reform. She was the founder and president of the Association of American Women, a group which advocated for women's education, from 1876 to 1897. She also served as president of organizations like the New England Women's Club, the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, and the New England Suffrage Association, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).[5]
During the last two decades of her life, she was interested in the cause of Russian freedom. Howe supported Russian emigre Stepniak-Kravchinskii and became a member of the Society of American Friends of Russian Freedom (SAFRF).
Howe died of pneumonia October 17, 1910, at her home, Oak Glen, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, at the age of 91.[6] She is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[7]
Recognition[]
On January 28, 1908, Howe became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
After her death, her children Maude Howe Elliot and Laura E. Richards collaborated on a biography, published in 1916. It won the 1917 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.[8]
Howe was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Her Rhode Island home, Oak Glen, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
She has been honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 14¢ Great Americans series postage stamp issued in 1988[7].
The Julia Ward Howe School of Excellence in Chicago's Austin community is named in her honor.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Passion-Flowers (anonymous). Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854.
- Words for the Hour (anonymous). Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1857.
- Battle Hymn of the Republic. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1862.
- Later Lyrics. Boston: J.E. Tilton, 1866.
- From Sunset Ridge: Poems old and new. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1898.
- Original Poems and other verse set to music as songs. Boston: Boston Music, 1908.
- At Sunset (edited by Laura E. Richards). Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1910.
Plays[]
- The World's Own. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1857.
- Hippolytus (adapted from Euripides). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1941.[9]
Fiction[]
- The Hermaphrodite (edited by Gary Wiliams). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.[9]
Non-fiction[]
- A Trip to Cuba. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1860.
- From the Oak to the Olive. A plain record of a pleasant journey. Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1868.
- Sex and Education: A reply to F.H. Clarke's 'Sex in education'. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1874.[9]
- Memoir of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe ... with other memorial tributes. Boston: Howe Memorial Committee, 1876.
- Modern Society. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881.
- Margaret Fuller. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883.
- Is Polite Society Polite? and other essays. Boston & New York: Lamson, Wolffe, 1895.
- Reminiscences 1819-1899. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899.
- Julia Ward Howe and the Women Suffrage Movement: A selection from her speeches and essays(edited by Florence Howe Hull). Boston: Dana Estes, 1913.[9]
- The Walk with God. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1919.[9]
Other[]
- The Julia Ward Howe Birthday Book: Selections from her writings (arranged & edited by Laura E. Richards). Boston: Lee & Shepherd / New York: C.T. Dillingham, 1889.[9]
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.[10]
Julia Ward Howe - Battle Hymn Of The Republic
Whitney Houston - Battle Hymn Of The Republic (WHH)
See also[]
References[]
- Representative women of New England. Boston: New England Historical Pub. Co., 1904.
- Richards, Laura Elizabeth. Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910. (2 volumes), Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916.
- Clifford, Deborah Pickman. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A biography of Julia Ward Howe. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1978.
- Grant, Mary H. Private Woman, Public Person: An account of the life of Julia Ward Howe from 1819 to 1868. Brooklyn: Carlson, 1994.
Notes[]
- ↑ Richards, Laura E., and Maud Howe Elliott. Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910, vol. I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916.
- ↑ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 33. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ↑ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 134–135. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ↑ Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999: 208. ISBN 1-55849-157-0
- ↑ Ziegler, Valarie H. Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003: 148–149. ISBN 1-56338-418-3
- ↑ Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 71. ISBN 0-19-503186-5
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Julia Ward Howe, Find a Grave, Jan. 1, 2001. Web, Sep. 4, 2013.
- ↑ Ziegler, Valarie H. Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003: 11. ISBN 1-56338-418-3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Search results = au:Julia Ward Howe, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 4, 2013.
- ↑ Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910, Poetry Foundation, Web, Oct. 8, 2012.
External links[]
- Poems
- Julia Ward Howe battle hymn from the Julia Ward Howe Papers, 1891-1898 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
- Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 at the Poetry Foundation
- Howe in A Book of Women's Verse: "Battle-Hymn of the Republic," "Our Orders"
- Selected Poetry of Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) (4 poems) at Representative Poetry Online.
- Julia Ward Howe at PoemHunter (12 poems)
- Julia Ward Howe at Poetry Nook (82 poems)
- Audio / video
- Books
- Works by Julia Ward Howe at Project Gutenberg
- Julia Ward Howe at Amazon.com
- About
- Julia Ward Howe in the Britannica Concise Encyclopædia
- Julia Ward Howe at NNDB
- Biography Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography
- Julia Ward Howe.org Official website - Electronic archive of Howe's life and works
- Julia Ward Howe, biography by Laura E. Richards, online at the University of Pennsylvania
- Julia Ward Howe at Find a Grave
- Archives
- Howe Papers at Harvard University
- Articles by Howe Archive at "Making of America" project, Cornell University Library
- Finding Aid for the Julia Ward Howe Papers at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Etc.
- Mother's Day Proclamation (1870)
- National Women's Hall of Fame
- Julia Ward Howe at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
- Plaque on the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. marking where Howe wrote the Hymn
- Welcome to Howe Elementary School at www.mtlsd.org
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