author
Lydia Maria Child
1802–1880
A bold 19th-century writer and reformer, she used fiction, journalism, and practical books to reach a huge American audience. Today she is remembered both for her antislavery work and for writing "Over the River and Through the Wood."
13 Audiobooks
The Duty of Disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act An Appeal To The Legislators Of Massachusetts, Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 9
by Lydia Maria Child
Isaac T. Hopper: A True Life
by Lydia Maria Child
The American Frugal Housewife
by Lydia Maria Child
The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2) : Comprising the women of Europe, America, and South Sea Islands
by Lydia Maria Child
The history of the condition of women in various ages and nations : Vol. 1 (of 2), Comprising the women of Asia and Africa
by Lydia Maria Child
The Magician's Show Box, and Other Stories
by Caroline Sturgis Tappan, Lydia Maria Child
Anti-slavery catechism
by Lydia Maria Child
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
by Lydia Maria Child
A Romance of the Republic
by Lydia Maria Child
Philothea: A Grecian Romance
by Lydia Maria Child
The Freedmen's Book
by Lydia Maria Child
The mother's book
by Lydia Maria Child
Autumnal leaves: tales and sketches in prose and rhyme
by Lydia Maria Child
About the author
Born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1802, Lydia Maria Child became one of the most widely read American writers of her era. She wrote novels, edited a pioneering children's magazine, and published the enormously popular The Frugal Housewife, showing a rare ability to move between literature, journalism, and everyday advice.
Child is especially known for the moral courage of her public writing. Her 1833 book An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans made a powerful case against slavery and helped establish her as an important antislavery voice. She also spoke up for the rights of women and Native Americans, and her work often challenged the injustices and expansionist attitudes of her time.
Even with that serious public role, her writing reached readers in many forms, from political argument to children's verse. Her poem "Over the River and Through the Wood" remained a lasting part of American culture, while her broader body of work shows a writer deeply committed to conscience, reform, and the hope that literature could help change society.