author
Alice Mabel Bacon
1858–1918
An American writer and educator, she built a rare bridge between the United States and Meiji-era Japan through teaching, reform work, and books that introduced Japanese life to English-speaking readers. Her career also included founding a nursing school at Hampton and collecting African American folklore.
1 Audiobook
Japanese Girls and Women Revised and Enlarged Edition
by Alice Mabel Bacon
About the author
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1858, Alice Mabel Bacon grew up in a family deeply engaged with education and public life. As a teenager, she became close to Japanese girls studying in the United States, including Yamakawa Sutematsu, a friendship that shaped her lifelong connection to Japan.
Bacon later taught in Japan and served as a foreign advisor during the Meiji period, working especially in women's education. She wrote widely about Japanese society for American readers, with books such as Japanese Girls and Women helping make everyday life in Japan more visible and understandable to readers abroad.
Her work in the United States was just as notable. At Hampton Institute in Virginia, she helped found the Hampton Training School for Nurses, and she was also active in collecting and preserving African American folklore through the Hampton Folk-Lore Society. She died in 1918, leaving behind a career that joined education, cultural exchange, and careful observation.