Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: A Voice for Change
How can a poem or a speech help change the way people think? Frances Ellen Watkins Harper spent her life exploring that question. As a Black writer and speaker in the 1800s, she used words to challenge slavery and unfair treatment and to imagine a more equal country.
Harper was born free in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 24, 1825. At that time, millions of Black people in the United States were enslaved. Even free Black people faced laws and customs that limited their opportunities. Harper lost her parents when she was young and was raised by relatives. Her uncle, William Watkins, ran a school where she received an education.
Books became important to Harper early in life. As a young woman, she worked for a family that owned a bookstore, giving her access to many books. She began writing poetry and published an early collection while she was still young. Reading and writing gave her ways to explore ideas that would later reach people across the country.
- customs:
- Common ways of acting in a community or society.
- opportunities:
- Chances to do or achieve something.
- access:
- The ability to reach or use something.
- collection:
- A group of things gathered together, such as poems in a book.
- fiction:
- Stories created from a writer's imagination.
- establish:
- To start or create something, such as an organization.
- justice:
- Fair treatment and respect for people's rights.
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Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Vocabulary
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Writing Prompts
Use the passage as a springboard for short written responses, from personal reflection to evidence-based arguments.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1How did Harper use both writing and speaking to work for change?
- 2How did working for a family that owned a bookstore help Harper?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: A Voice for Change” is a explanatory article reading passage about Writing and social change, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (518 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.