Julia Ward Howe, ca. 1925, started by John Elliott; completed by William H. Cotton (National Portrait Gallery)
Best known as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe was also a powerful abolitionist and a noted proponent of women’s suffrage. She even was behind the establishment of Mother’s Day. Elaine Showalter, professor emeritus of English at Princeton University, has produced the first full biography of this remarkable figure, The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe (Simon & Schuster), and the portrait she presents is a fascinating one. She joins NPR’s Cokie Roberts for a conversation about
Howe’s eventful life and times.
Julia Ward (1819–1910) was an heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an acclaimed pioneer in the education of blind people. Together the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens to John Brown. But her husband also wasted her inheritance, isolated and discouraged her, and opposed her literary ambitions. She persisted, and continued to publish poems and plays while raising six children.
Her lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862 made her celebrated and revered, and the song became rallying cry for the Union during the Civil War. But Howe also continued to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist, and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and social reform. By the time she died at the age of 91, she had written dozens of essays and poems; a biography of Transcendentalist and women’s-rights pioneer Margaret Fuller; founded several magazines and the Century Club of San Francisco; and became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Showalter is among the founding scholars of feminist literary criticism and women's studies in America, and the author of ten books. The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe is available for signing.
