Maria W. Stewart

Maria W. Stewart (née Miller) (born 1803 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA; died 17 December 1879 in Washington D.C.) was a writer, lecturer, teacher, and activist. Quotes Meditations from the pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart (1879) All the nations of the earth are crying out for liberty and equality. Away, away with tyranny and oppression! And shall Afric's sons be silent any longer? Far be it from me to recommend to you either to kill, burn, or destroy. But I would strongly recommend to you to improve your talents; let not one lie buried in the earth. Show forth your powers of mind ... (from Preface) It is not the color of the skin that makes the man or the woman, but the principle formed in the soul. Brilliant wit will shine, come from whence it will; and genius and talent will not hide the brightness of its lustre. Farewell Address to Her Friends in the City of Boston (September 21, 1833) African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, and excite in his bosom a lively, deep, decided and heart-felt interest. Address Delivered at the African Masonic Hall, Boston (February 27, 1833) Why sit ye here and die? If we say we will go to a foreign land, the famine and the pestilence are there, and there we shall die. If we sit here, we shall die. Come, let us plead our cause before the whites. If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall, Boston (September 21, 1832) Alas, what keeps us so? Prejudice, ignorance, and poverty. But ah! methinks our oppression is soon to come to an end; yea, before the Majesty of heaven our groans and cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. As the prayers and tears of Christians will avail the finally impenitent nothing, neither will the prayers and tears of the friends of humanity avail us anything unless we possess a spirit of virtuous emulation within our breasts. Did the pilgrims, when they first landed on these shores, quietly compose themselves, and say: "The Britons have all the money and all the power, and we must continue their servants forever?" Did they sluggishly sigh, and say: "Our lot is hard; the Indians own the soil, and we cannot cultivate it?" No; they first made powerful efforts to raise themselves, and then God raised up those illustrious patriots, Washington and Lafayette, to assist and defend them. And, my brethren, have you made a powerful effort? Have you prayed the Legislature for mercy's sake to grant you all the rights and privileges of free citizens, that your daughters may rise to that degree of respectability which true merit deserves, and your sons above the servile situations which most of them fill? Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall, Boston (September 21, 1832) Ingratitude is one of the worst passions that reigns in the human breast. It is this that cuts the tender fibers of the soul; for it is impossible for us to love those who are ungrateful toward us. Address to the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Boston (April 28, 1832) O, woman, woman, upon you I call; for upon your exertions almost entirely depends whether the rising generation shall be anything more than we have been or not. O woman, woman! Your example is powerful, your influence great; it extends over your husbands, and your children, and throughout the circle of your acquaintance. Then let me exhort you to cultivate among yourselves spirit of Christian love and unity, having charity one for another, without which all our goodness is as sounding brass and as a tinkling cymbal. And, O my God, I beseech thee to grant that the nations of the earth may hiss at us no longer. O, suffer them not to laugh us to scorn forever. Address to the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Boston (April 28, 1832) "Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, The Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build." (1831) This is the land of freedom. The press is at liberty. Every man has a right to express his opinion. Many think, because your skins are tinged with a sable hue, that you are an inferior race of beings; but God does not consider you as such. He hath formed and fashioned you in His own glorious image, and hath bestowed upon you reason and strong powers of intellect. He hath made you to have dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. He hath crowned you with glory and honor; hath made you but a little lower than the angels; and, according to the Constitution of these United States, he hath made all men free and equal. Then why should one worm say to another, "Keep you down there, while I sit up yonder; for I am better than thou." It is not the color of the skin that makes the man, but it is the principle formed within the soul. (from Introduction) Many will suffer for pleading the cause of oppressed Africa, and I shall glory in being one of her martyrs; for I am firmly persuaded that the God in whom I trust is able to protect me from the rage and malice of mine enemies, and from them that will rise up against me; and if there is no other way for me to escape, He is able to take me to himself, as He did the most noble, fearless, and undaunted David Walker. (from Introduction) Shall I, for fear of feeble man who shall die, hold my peace? Shall I for fear of scoffs and frowns, refrain my tongue? Ah, no! Possess the spirit of independence. The Americans do, and why should not you? Possess the spirit of men, bold and enterprising, fearless and undaunted. Sue for your rights and privileges. Know the reason that you cannot attain them. Weary them with your importunities. You can but die if you make the attempt; and we shall certainly die if you do not. Oh, America, America, foul and indelible is thy stain! Dark and dismal is the cloud that hangs over thee, for thy cruel wrongs and injuries to the fallen sons of Africa. Quotes about Mrs. Stewart came to New York with less of the advantages of education than this small literary circle, but full of the greed for literature and letters. She was then a young widow, and still very much distressed at the loss of her husbAnd, The anguish that occurrence had brought to her caused the outburst of an overwrought soul in these "Meditations and Prayers," which she had published a year or so before. The surprise of the case was that a person who had received but six weeks' schooling, who could not even pen her own thoughts, who had to get a little girl ten years old to write every word of this book — that such a person could compose essays of this kind and give expression to such thoughts and be the author of such a work! ... With the hope that this little book may be of service to many souls, and aid as an encouragement to many hopeful and aspiring young spirits among my people, I very gladly commend it to its several readers. Alexander Crummell, published in Meditations from the pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart Your whole adult life has been devoted to the noble task of educating and elevating your people, sympathizing with them in their affliction, and assisting them in their needs; and, though advanced in years, you are still animated with the spirit of your earlier life, and striving to do what in you lies to succor the outcast, reclaim the wanderer, and lift up the fallen. In this blessed work may you be generously assisted by those to whom you may make your charitable appeals, and who may have the means to give efficiency to your efforts. William Lloyd Garrison, letter (1879) published in Meditations from the pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart she is really a remarkable person, considering all under which she has labored; and I hope now, as our Heavenly Father has permitted her to live to see the injustice that has been done to her, she may be spared still many years to enjoy life as she never has before; and when life's journey is ended here, she will then receive her reward, for her work has been well and faithfully done on earth, and her summons will be, "Well done, thou good and faithful one; enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation." Louise C. Hatton, in Meditations from the pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart External links Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania) Archives of Women's Political Communication page (Iowa State University) Category:1803 births Category:1879 deaths Category:Feminists from the United States Category:Women journalists from the United States Category:Abolitionists Category:Women activists from the United States Category:Civil rights activists Category:African Americans Category:Women born in the 19th century