Personal Vita
June, 2000
"The first American woman to speak publicly against slavery and for the equality of women, Fanny Wright was a rebel who pursued equality for all. She lived according to her own ideals rather than society's dictates."
Name
Frances Wright
[Fanny Wright, Frances Wright Darusmont, Mrs. Guillaume P. Darusmont]
Bio/Historical Notes
Born in Dundee, Scotland, Fanny Wright was a radical who would have fit well in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She denounced the societal bondages of color, gender, religion, politics and economic status almost 200 years before it was fashionable. She practiced free and temporary love, and believed marriage was bondage made worse when society forced people to stay together for the sake of children. It seems the more she lectured, and the more the people who came to listen would argue with her, the stronger her beliefs became. Fanny started the paths for many different causes, paving the way for others to follow and to fight for the same, and more, rights. She was married to Dr. Guillaume P. Darusmont in 1831 and was divorced in 1850. She lived in Scotland, England, France, Indiana, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee. Delivered popular lectures. Was a newspaper editor (New Harmony Gazette, Free Enquirer - edited in New York in 1828). Among Wright's themes were the liberalizing of divorce laws, birth control, free state-run secular education, the political organization of laborers, equal rights for women, and objectionable ecclesiastical influences in politics. Fanny also believed in interracial relationships and she tried to free and educate the slaves. National Women's Hall of Fame 1994 Inductees included Fanny Wright
Birth Date
September 6, 1795
Source of Birth Date
Eckhardt, C. M. (1984). Fanny Wright: Rebel in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Death Date
December 13, 1852, Cincinnati, Ohio. Statement on Tombstone: " I have wedded the cause of human improvement, staked on it my fortune, my reputation, my life "
Source of Death Date
National Women’s Hall of Fame. [On-line]. Available: http://greatwomen.org.
Education
Self educated in Glasgow, Scotland; also heavily influenced by her Uncle James Milne, "a member of Scottish school of progressive philosophers…who encouraged Fanny to question the conventional ideas…lasting influence on her political development."
Associated Subjects
Abolition of Slavery
Birth Control
Communes
Communities
Free Education
Free Speech
Interracial unions
Nashoba
Socialism
Utopia
Women’s Rights
Workingmen’s Movement
Associated People
Frances "Fanny" Trollope
George Flower
James Madison
Marquis de Lafayette (From France/Also fought in Revolutionary War)
Orestes Brownson
Robert Dale Owen
Thomas Jefferson
William Maclure Themes
Associated Organizations
National Women's Hall of Fame
Publications
Wright, F. (1821). Letters. In Baker, P. A. (Ed.), Views of society and manners in America (a travel memoir). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press (reprinted Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1963).
Wright, F. (1822). Altorf (a play). London: Longman.
Wright, F. (ca. 1826-27). A Few Days in Athens (published serially). In R. D. Owen, (Ed.), The New Harmony Gazette. Indiana.
References to
Biographical studies: Frances Wright. Evansville, IN: University of Evansville. [On-line]. Available: http://www.evansville.edu/~ck6/bstud/wright.html.
Brief Biographies from the Jackson/Van Buren Era. [On-line]. Available: http://216.202.17.223/BIOG-W.htm.
Eckhardt, C. M. (1984). Fanny Wright: Rebel in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984 (published in 1992 by University of Illinois Press, Urbana).
Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (1978). For her own good. New York: Anchor Books.
Fanny Wright. The Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia. [On-line]. Available http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwright.htm.
Frances Wright. (1994). The world almanac and book of facts (CD-ROM). Funk and Wagnalls Corp.
Perkins, A. J. G., Wolfson, T. (1939). Frances Wright: Free enquirer. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Rind, Z. (1996). Frances Wright: Challenging societal views. Haverford, PA: Haverford College, The Women, Medicine & Biology Web Site. [On-line]. Available: http://students.haverford.edu/wmbweb/medbios/zrwright.html.
The women of the hall (National Women's Hall of Fame). [On-line]. Available: http://greatwomen.org/grtwmn.htm.
Uglow, J. S. (Compiler). (1989). The continuum dictionary of women's biography (New Expanded Edition of the International Dictionary of Women's Biography.
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