Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Born in 1823, Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an American writer, Unitarian minister, and reformer whose life crossed many parts of 19th-century public life. He studied at Harvard, became active in the antislavery movement, and wrote widely on politics, literature, and social questions.

During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the First South Carolina Volunteers, one of the first federally authorized Black regiments. That experience became one of the defining chapters of his life and later shaped some of his best-known nonfiction.

Readers also know him for his connection with Emily Dickinson. After she sent him her poems, he became a longtime correspondent and later helped bring her work into print after her death. Alongside his activism, he built a substantial literary career as an essayist, memoirist, and commentator on American culture.