Eliza Frances Andrews

Eliza Frances Andrews

Eliza Frances Andrews (August 10, 1840January 21, 1931) was a popular Southern writer of the Gilded Age. She published in, among other places, the "New York World" and "Godey's Lady's Book".

Eliza Frances Andrews gained notoriety in three fields: author, then educator, then scientist. Her passion was writing and she had success as both an essayist and a novelist. Financial troubles forced her to take a teaching career after the deaths of her parents, though she continued to be published. In her retirement she combined two of her interest by writing two textbooks on botany, one of which became popular in Europe and was used in schools in France. The books and articles that Andrews published give a glimpse into a life of bitterness, dissatisfaction, and confusion.

“Fanny” Andrews was born on August 10, 1840 at Haywood plantation to Garnett and Annulet Ball Andrews. Her father was a lawyer, judge, and plantation owner, possessing around two hundred slaves. In her adolescence Andrews attended Ladies’ Seminary school near her home in Washington and went on to graduate among the first class of students from LaGrange Female College in Georgia. “Fanny” was still living at home in the care of her family when states began to secede from the Union. Her father was notoriously outspoken against secession and did not support the Confederacy. Despite his views, three of his sons enlisted in the Confederate States Army and his daughters, too, believed in the rebellion. Thus, while Garnett Andrews refused to allow secessionist ideals to be voiced in his home, his daughters secretly made the first Confederate flag to fly over the courthouse in her hometown. Conflicting opinions between her and her father agitated and confused the young Andrews. Her father, who in the words of one biographer “helped his children to learn to love books and learning”, had began suppressing her beliefs. Late in the war Andrews and her sister were sent to live with a relative in the southwest of Georgia and Andrews recorded both her journey and stay in a journal that was later published under the title "Wartime Journal of a Georgia Girl: 1864-65". Though not published until 1908, the diary effectively began her career as a writer. Later in 1865 at her father’s suggestion, Andrews submitted her first piece for publication in the "New York World". It described the mistreatment of southerners by the reconstruction administrators that were now in control of the South. She penned many articles for a variety of publications on topics such as women’s fashion during the war to a piece and the woman who was behind the success of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin. In 1873 her father died and bad investments forced the family to sell the plantation. This sudden financial independence required Andrews to work. She briefly edited the "Washington Gazette" but was fired on account of her gender. She then became principal at the Girl’s High School in Yazoo, Mississippi. She resigned the position in 1874 reportedly because she was unhappy being a principal under a black superintendent. Andrews then returned to Washington to become the principal at her former seminary school and later became a professor of French and literature at the Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia from 1886 to 1896. After retirement she continued to write and began to focus on botany. She published two textbooks, one of which was translated and adopted by French schools. Near the end of her life the International Academy of Science recognized her for her writing on botany.

In spite of her successful career in education, Andrews had grown very bitter having been on the losing side of the war, been fired due to her sex, losing her parents, and working under a black man when she was once heir to some two hundred slaves. Due to all of this consternation she vowed to remain single for the rest of her life. This is apparent in her first novel "A Family Secret" which creates a vivid image of the role of women in the post war south. She remarks upon the misery inherent in marrying for money and writes at one point “Oh, the slavery it is to be a woman and not a fool.”

All of the dissatisfaction in life made her dream of a more ideal society and from 1899 to 1918 she proclaimed herself a socialist and wrote an article for the "International Socialist Review" concerning socialism in the botanical world. Even with her new political view, she was still a racist and wrote about the superiority of the white race over the black and boasting that with the help of the Ku Klux Klan the color line has been preserved in her home town. And despite her bitterness with the inequality of women’s role in society, she did not support women’s suffrage.

References

*Cita Cook, "Eliza Frances Andrews", "American National Biography"
*Mainiero, Lina. "American Women Writers, Vol. 1". New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1979.
*Ohles, John F. "Biographical Dictionary of American Educators, Vol. 1". Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978.

External links

*worldcat id|lccn-n87-113874


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Eliza Frances Andrews: The Journal of a Georgia Girl — ▪ Primary Source              Eliza Andrews saw the work of Sherman s army about fifty miles east of Dolly Lunt Burge at the end of November. The extracts published here recount her views of the Burnt Country, a swath of territory that had been… …   Universalium

  • Eliza Haywood — (1693 February 25, 1756) (born Elizabeth Fowler) was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest. Described as “prolific even by the standards of a… …   Wikipedia

  • Eliza Courtney — Infobox Person name = Eliza Courtney image size = caption = birth name = birth date = birth date|1792|2|10 birth place = Aix en Provence death date = death date and age|1859|5|2|1792|2|10 death place = Norwood, Surrey death cause = resting place …   Wikipedia

  • Gene Eliza Tierney — Gene Tierney Gene Tierney Gene Tierney dans Laura (1944) Nom de naissance Gene Eliza Tierney Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • My Fair Lady — Autor Gabriel Pascal y Alan Jay Lerner Año 1955 Año publicación 1956 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Représentation de l'Angleterre georgienne chez Jane Austen — Portrait de George III (1738 1820), dont le règne englobe toute la vie de Jane Austen. Par Sir William Beechey. La représentation de l Angleterre georgienne est omniprésente dans les romans de Jane Austen (1775 1817). Tout entière située pendant… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jane Austen — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Austen. Jane Austen …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mason family — For other uses, see Mason (surname). Mason Ethnicity English Current region Eastern United States Information Place of origin Pershore …   Wikipedia

  • Pasajeros a bordo del RMS Titanic — Anexo:Pasajeros a bordo del RMS Titanic Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Esta es una lista de los 2207 pasajeros a bordo del RMS Titanic, golpeado por un iceberg en el océano Atlántico mientras partía a la ciudad de Nueva York, el buque finalmente… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Anexo:Pasajeros a bordo del RMS Titanic — Esta es una lista de los 2207 pasajeros a bordo del RMS Titanic, golpeado por un iceberg en el océano Atlántico mientras se dirigía a la ciudad de Nueva York. Finalmente se hundió. Los nombres en cursiva hacen referencia a aquellas personas que… …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”