Grimké, Charlotte Forten Bridges ___ 1837-1914 ___ American ___ teacher

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Charlotte Bridges was a member of the prominent black Forten-Purvis family. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Robert Bridges and Mary Woods Forten. Bridges and his brother in law, Robert Purvis were abolitionists and members of the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee, an anti-slavery, slave assistance network. Charlotte studied at Higginson Grammar School, where she was the only non-white student in a cohort of 200, and at the Normal School in Salem. She began campaigning against slavery and became an influential activist and civil rights leader. Starting in 1856, she taught for two years at Epes Grammar School, but, having contracted TB, she returned to Philadelphia. There, she became the first black teacher involved in the Civil War's Sea Islands mission. In the late 1860s, she worked for the Treasury Department recruiting teachers. In 1878, she married Presbyterian minister Francis J Grimké. They had one daughter, Theodora Cornelia, who died in infancy. Thereafter, Charlotte helped her husband in his ministry in Washington, organised a women's missionary group and continued her civil rights efforts.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - A free black female

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1854-1862 1885-1892 ___ literary education society slavery

WEB TEXT LINKS
several extracts
googlebooks
many extracts

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Howard University, Washington DC

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké
 

November 2005, June 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.