A BRIGHTER COMING DAY
SPEAKERS

Lena Ampadu
is
Professor in the Department of English, Towson University, where
she teaches composition, Survey of African American Literature,
Major Writers of African American Literature, and courses on black
women writers. In addition, she is the immediate past Director of
the African and African American Studies Program. She has published
a number of essays on composition and rhetoric, as well as on
African American literature. Her specialty is oral traditions in
African and African American women’s novels. Her publications
include “The Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Influence of
African Aesthetics” (We Wear he Mask: Paul Laurence Dunbar and
the Politics of Representative Reality) and “Maria Stewart:
Womanism, Black Nationalism, and the Rhetoric of Black Preaching”
(Black Women’s Intellectual Tradition: Speaking Their
Minds). She has lectured on the Poetic Voice of Frances E.W.
Harper and the Prose, Poetics, and Politics of Frances E. W. Harper
and is presently working on a manuscript on Frances Harper and
Pauline Hopkins.
“Harper was a fascinating woman,
an outspoken feminist of her day whose poetry and prose often
delved into the challenges and problems facing all women, while
celebrating women’s ability to survive and overcome. A social
visionary, Harper commented on the sexual double standard that
existed during the nineteenth century men and women; advocating
literacy as an empowering, liberating tool for women; and used her
pen and voice in the public sphere to oppose slavery. Many of her
beliefs on justice and equality still resonate with meaning for
today’s society.” -Lena Ampadu |
Charles L.
Blockson

is founder and curator of
the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple
University which includes rare texts, slave narratives, art, and a
host of other artifacts significant in African-American history.
Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Blockson graduated from
Pennsylvania State University and holds an honorary doctorate from
Villanova University. Blockson has written several essays and books
centered on African-American history, especially in Pennsylvania,
including The Underground Railroad and Liberty Bell
Era: The African-American Story.
“She was an extraordinary woman
of commitment and conviction for her people. She was a poet with a
gift for words and an activist for African American, civil rights
and Women’s rights. Oftentimes, she was overshadowed by her
contemporaries, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, but she is a
significant person whose legacy is long overdue.” – Charles L.
Blockson
|
Melba Joyce
Boyd
is Distinguished
Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Wayne State University.
She is the author of thirteen books, including Wrestling with
the Muse: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press which
received the 2005 Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Book Honor for Nonfiction, and the editor of Roses and
Revolutions: the Collected Writings of Dudley Randall, which
received the 2010 Library of Michigan Notable Books Award and was a
finalist for a 2010 NAACP Image Award in Literature. Her 1994 book,
Discarded Legacy: Politics and Poetics in the Life of Frances
E. W. Harper, 1825-1911, was widely reviewed and praised by
critics. Eight of her books are collections of poetry, the most
recent of which is Death Dance of a Butterfly. She has won
a number of awards including a Michigan Council for the Arts
Individual Artist Award, and in 2009 she was a Nominee for the
Kresge Eminent Artist Award. She is the series coeditor of the
African American Life Series at WSU Press, and a contributing
editor for The Black Scholar: The Journal of Black Studies and
Research.
“Harper’s insight, developed
during an era rife with violent enforcement of racism, sexism, and
classism, constitutes a viable ideological framework for
contemporary radical thought.” – Melba Joyce Boyd
|
Frances Smith
Foster

is
Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Women’s Studies at
Emory University. She regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate
courses in African American literature and culture and in women’s
literature and culture. Recent course offerings have included “The
Profession of English,” “Family, Marriage and (Sexual) Morality in
19th century America,” “Slavery and the African American Literary
Imagination, “Becoming a Woman,” and “African American
Prize-winning and Prize-worthy Literature.” She has edited or
written more than a dozen books, including Love and Marriage in
Early African America, Written By Herself:
Literary Production by African American Women, 1746-1892 and
Witnessing Slavery: The Development of the Ante-Bellum Slave
Narrative. She has edited, alone or jointly, works that
include The Oxford Companion to African American
Literature and The Norton Anthology of African American
Literature as well as editions of several African American
women’s texts including Minnie’s Sacrifice, Sowing and Reaping,
and Trial and Triumph: Three Rediscovered Novels by Frances E.W.
Harper. She is the editor of A Brighter Coming Day: A
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Reader.
“One of the most interesting
things about Frances E.W. Harper is her continued optimism in light
of the less than inspiring realities with which she lived. She
vowed to sing songs for the people and those songs were less
light-hearted than light-giving.” – Frances Smith
Foster
|
Sonia Sanchez

is a
poet, mother, activist, professor, and international lecturer on
black culture and literature, women’s liberation, peace and racial
justice. She has written over 16 books, including most recently,
Morning Haiku. Sanchez was the first Presidential Fellow
at Temple University, where she held the Laura Carnell Chair in
English. The recipient of numerous awards, Sanchez has been honored
by: the National Endowment for the Arts; the Pennsylvania Coalition
of 100 Black Women; the National Black Caucus of State Legislators;
the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities; the Peace
and Freedom Award; and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Sanchez’s
exemplary writing skills have earned her the American Book Award
and the Langston Hughes Poetry Award. Her book, Does Your House
Have Lions?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics
Circle Award. Having lectured and read poetry to over 500
universities, colleges and organizations in the United States,
Africa, Cuba, England, the Caribbean, Australia, Nicaragua, the
People’s Republic of China, Norway and Canada, Sanchez has
established a reputation as a highly renowned author and
scholar.
“This abolitionist black woman
writer weaves the literary and political in her poems, novels,
newspaper columns and essays. In doing so her life and writings
were one and the same.” – Sonia Sanchez
|
A BRIGHTER COMING DAY
PROGRAM
Commemoration of the
Life
& Work of Frances Ellen Watkins
Harper
Sunday, February 20, 2011 –
11am
-The First Unitarian Church
of Philadelphia
2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, 215-701-9072

A commemoration of the Life & Work of Frances Ellen Watkins
Harper, who died on February 22, 1911 and whose funeral was held at
The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia one hundred years ago
today. It will feature the unveiling of a commissioned portrait of
Frances E.W. Harper, presentation of the City Council Resolution to
the Fattah family and other activities, including the reading of
poetry by Frances E.W. Harper and music from the Universal Drum and
Dance company.
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Buy $40 tickets.
Grammy Award–winning a cappella ensemble Sweet
Honey in the Rock® will be performing at the First Unitarian
Church of Philadelphia at 3:00 pm on Sunday, February 20 in honor
of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Frances Ellen Watkins
Harper.
Harper was a venerable African-American
abolitionist, orator, and poet. In addition to her work as an
abolitionist and writer, she was also an ardent supporter of
prohibition and women’s suffrage.
Sweet Honey in the Rock®,
featuring five singers and an American Sign Language interpreter,
is internationally renowned for its musical prowess, powerful use
of varied American musical traditions, and commitment to social
justice and civil rights.
Charles L. Blockson Lecture on
Frances E. W. Harper
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
-2pm
- Charles L. Blockson Collection at Temple
University
1330 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia PA 19122, 215-204-6632
A l
ecture by Charles L. Blockson on Frances E. W.
Harper. Charles L. Blockson is founder and curator of the Charles
L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University which
incudes rare texts, slave narratives, art, and a host of other
artifacts significant in African-American history. Blockson has
written several essays and books centered on African-American
history, especially in Pennsylvania, including The Underground
Railroad and Liberty Bell Era: The African-American Story.
Falaka Fattah and The Political
Legacy of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 –
7pm
-The Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th Street, Philadelphia PA 19107,
215-735-9600
Falaka Fattah is the founder of House of Umoja, a
Philadelphia activist, and mother of Congressman Chaka Fattah.
Falaka Fattah’s great grandmother married the brother of Frances
Ellen Watkins Harper’s husband. Every generation of the Fattah
family has named one of their children after Frances Harper since
then. They have treasured the family connection to Frances Harper
and have been inspired and motivated in their community service by
this nineteenth century artist and political activist. Moonstone is
honored to present a program on this subject featuring a showing of
A Place To Go Home To, a film by Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon on
House of Umoja, and speakers honoring Falaka Fattah and the
traditions inspired by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
Chat in the Stacks with Lena
Ampadu
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
–2:30pm
- Paley Library Lecture Hall, Temple
University
1210 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6088, 215-204-0744
Lena Ampadu, Professor of English and former Director of African
and African American Studies Program at Towson University, leads a
discussion on the Prose, Poetics and Politics of Frances E. W.
Harper.
Discarded Legacy: Politics and
Poetics in the Life of Frances Ellen Watkins
Harper
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
– 6pm
- The Historical Society of
Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-735-6200

A Panel Discussion with: Lena Ampadu –
Professor of English and former Director of African and African
American Studies Program at Towson University. Ampadu’s specialty
is oral traditions in African and African American women’s novels.
She has lectured on the Poetic Voice of Frances E.W. Harper and the
Prose, Poetics, and Politics of Frances E. W. Harper.
Melba Joyce Boyd – Distinguished Professor and
Chair of Africana Studies at Wayne State University. She is the
author of thirteen books, including Discarded Legacy: Politics and
Poetics in the Life of Frances E. W. Harper, 1825-1911, the only
book of criticism available on Frances E.W. Harper.
Sonia Sanchez – Author of more than a dozen
books of poetry, including Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected
Poems. Sanchez was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple
University, where she began teaching in 1977, and held the Laura
Carnell Chair in English there until her retirement in 1999. She
has taught and lectured around the world and embodies in her life
and work the legacy of Frances E.W. Harper.
Discarded Legacy: Politics and
Poetics in the Life of Frances Ellen Watkins
Harper
Thursday, February 24, 2011 –
10am
- School District of Philadelphia
Auditorium
440 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia PA19107, 215-400-5719
A presentation by Melba Joyce Boyd for teachers and students
co-sponsored by the Social Studies Department of the School
District of Philadelphia.
The Poetry and Poetic Legacy of Frances E.W.
Harper
Thursday, February 24, 2011
–7pm
- The Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th Street, Philadelphia PA, 19107 –
215-735-9600
This event will feature Melba Joyce Boyd and Sonia Sanchez reading
poetry by Frances E.W. Harper and their own poetry. An open reading
of contemporary poetry in Harper’s tradition of social activism
will follow. This event will include poetry by Philadelphia high
school students who have been studying Frances E.W. Harper.
A Brighter Coming Day:
Rediscovering Frances E. W. Harper

Friday, February 25, 2011 –
7pm
- Ruth Auditorium, Nesbitt Hall, Drexel
University
33rd and Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA
A lecture by Frances Smith Foster, Charles Howard Candler
Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Emory University.
Frances Smith Foster compiled and edited A Brighter Coming Day: A
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Reader, the only collection of
Harper’s work available. Her research discovered three novels
published as serials in the Christian Recorder, the journal of the
AME church. Foster then published Minnie’s Sacrifice, Sowing
and Reaping, and Trial and Triumph: Three Rediscovered Novels by
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
A Brighter Coming Day:
Rediscovering Frances E. W. Harper for
Teachers
Saturday, February 26, 2011 –
9am
- National Constitution Center
Independence Mall, 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106,
215-409-6600
A Teacher Training with Frances Smith Foster on Frances E. W.
Harper and her work. This program carries Act 48 credits for
Philadelphia teachers and will include curriculum and other
materials to help teachers present the Antebellum, Civil War and
Reconstruction periods from an African-American viewpoint.
Trailblazers To
Freedom

Saturday, February 26, 2011
–1pm
- African American Museum in Philadelphia
701 Arch Street, Philadelphia PA 19106, 215-574-0380
The African American Museum in Philadelphia’s Trailblazers to
Freedom Traveling Trunk Program offers an exciting series of
educational resources for classroom instruction. Trunks are
complete with instructional information, replicated artifacts and
primary source documents, along with related lesson plans and
hands-on activities that are based on specific people and themes of
the exhibition to help students better understand the history of
Philadelphia’s African American community from 1776 to 1876. The
Traveling Trunk explores the life and times of social activist
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who expressed herself through the
written and spoken word. The Trailblazers to Freedom Traveling
Trunk is an innovative teaching tool that allows students to
interact with notable history makers and events that helped shape
visions and dreams of freedom and equality in colonial America.
Philadelphia’s history is brought to life through artifacts,
multi-media presentations and classroom activities.
Remembering Frances
Ellen Watkins Harper

Sunday, February 27, 2011
–11am
- Mother Bethel AME Church
419 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia PA 19147,
215-925-0616
This event will feature a sermon by Reverend Mark Kelly Tyler
and other activities. Frances E.W. Harper was raised by her uncle
William Watkins as a member of the Sharp Street United Methodist
Church (formerly Methodist Episcopal) in Baltimore and she taught
Sunday School at Mother Bethel in Philadelphia.
Bury Me In A Free
Land

Sunday, February 27, 2011 –
2pm
- Eden Cemetery
1434 Springfield Road, Collingdale, PA 19023, 610-563-8737
A graveside memorial to Frances E.W. Harper with music and
poetry.
*Bus transportation between the events at Mother Bethel and the
Eden Cemetery may be provided. If interested, please contact Larry
Robin at: larry@moonstoneartscenter.org.
Many events in the program will include a short theatrical
presentation by a Sakai, a professional actress, who will talk
about Harper’s life and perform her poetry and prose. |