Judith Sargent Murray
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Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820) was an United States feminist, essayist, playwright, poet, and letter-writer.
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[edit] Life account
Murray was one of the first American proponents of the idea of equality of the sexes; that women had the capability for intellectual accomplishment and economic independence just as much as men. Two of her feminist essays—"On the Equality of the Sexes" and "On the Domestic Education of Children," both published in 1790—actually predate Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which was published in Britain in 1792 and in Philadelphia in 1794.
Primarily self-taught, Murray believed that with equal education, women's accomplishments would equal men's, and that the most important factor in giving young women the power to succeed was education. A student of history herself, Murray believed that the study of the history of women's struggles and accomplishments was important for women to fulfill their potential and become fully-empowered members of society. Her work On the Equality of the Sexes stirred some controversy for its failure to affirm the Biblical assertions of women's inferiority.
Murray often wrote either anonymously or under assumed names (particularly a male persona called "The Gleaner") so that others would read her ideas without dismissing them for coming from a woman. Her 1798 book of essays, entitled The Gleaner, established her as a serious author and advocate of women's equality; the book was purchased by such figures as George Washington, John Adams, Henry Knox, and Mercy Otis Warren.
At the age of twenty-three, Murray began making copies of nearly all her correspondence in order to keep historical records. Today approximately 2,500 survive and are being published in letter-books for the benefit of scholars; they make up one of the few surviving collections of writings by women from this period in American history.
Murray, who became a Universalist early in life, had a strong influence on the Universalist religion's treatment of women through her second husband, John Murray, who brought the religion to the United States from England; much of the Universalist position on women's equality comes from her ideas. (The widow of John Stevens Jr, she remarried in 1788.) Murray bore one daughter, Julia Maria, in 1791, and adopted her orphaned niece as well as a maternal cousin; she had in 1789 borne a son named Fitz Winthrop who died the same day. True to her convictions about the importance of education, she was a dedicated teacher to her children as well as the children of other family and friends.
[edit] Selected works
[edit] Books
- Some Deductions from the System Promulgated in the Page of Divine Revelation: Ranged in the Order and Form of a Catechism Intended as an Assistant to the Christian Parent or Teacher (published anonymously, 1782)
- The Gleaner: A Miscellaneous Production. (1798)
[edit] Essays
- A Universalist Catechism (1782)
- Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Complacency, Especially in Female Bosoms (1784)
- On the Equality of the Sexes (1790)
- On the Domestic Education of Children (1790)
- The Repository (1792-1794)
- The Reaper (1794)
[edit] References
- The Judith Sargent Murray Society
- The Sargent House Museum -Home of Judith Sargent Murray, Gloucester, Massachusetts
- Sunshine for Women: Judith Sargent Murray
- Mills, Tammy. "'Lines Written in my Closet': Volume One of Judith Sargent Murray's Poetry Manuscripts." Diss. Georgia State University. 2006
