Margaret Fuller
1810-1850
Childhood and Education
Sarah Margaret Fuller was born May 23, 1810, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first child of Timothy Fuller and Margaret Crane Fuller. By the age of nine, she was dropped "Sarah" and she insisted on being called "Margaret". Her father taught her how to read and write at the age of about three and a half.she went to school at Port School in Cambridgeport in 1819 Margaret’s sister Julia Adelaide died at the age of fourteen months. She also had two brothers named Eugene and William Henry.
The Gatherings
On November 6, 1839, Fuller held the first of her "conversations", discussions among local women who met in the Boston home of the Peabodys. Fuller intended to answer the "great questions" facing women: "What were we born to do? How shall we do it? Sophia Dana Ripley, Caroline Sturgis, and Maria White Lowell also attended these gatherings.
Accomplishments
She moved to New York that autumn and joined Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune as literary critic, becoming the first full-time book reviewer in American journalism and, by 1846, the publication's first female editor.During her four years with the publication, she published more than 250 columns, most of them were signed with a "*" as a byline.In these columns, she discussed topics ranging from art and literature to political and social issues such as the plight of slaves and women's rights.
Problems at the Time
The plight of slaves and women's rights and no education for woman were problems they had at the time.
What She Did
Giovanni and Margaret supported Giuseppe Mazzini's revolution for the establishment of a Roman Republic in 1849. When the republicans supported they met defeat, they had to flee Italy and decided to move to the United States. She decided to use her experience to write a book about the history of the Roman Republic.
How She Died
Margaret and her family went on a ship called The Elizabeth when the ship slammed into a sandbar less than 100 yards from re Island, New York, on July 19, 1850, around 3:30 a.m. Many of the other passengers and crew members abandoned ship. The first mate, Mr. Bangs, urged Fuller and Ossoli to try to save themselves and their child as he himself jumped overboard, later claiming he believed Fuller had wanted to be left behind to die. Fuller or her husband’s body was recovered but their daughter washed up on shore.
How She is Remebered
Shortly after Fuller's death, her importance faded. Her obituary in the newspaper she had once edited, the Daily Tribune, said that her works had a few great sentiments. There is a memorial marker for Margaret Fuller at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the Fuller family lot. On Margaret’s memorial stone at Mt. Auburn Cemetery are the following words:
Born a child of New England,
By adoption a citizen of Rome,
By genius belonging to the World.
As you can see the memorial is up above