Lydia Maria ChildIn the 19th Century, Lydia Maria Child became known as an outspoken abolitionist, a women’s rights crusader, Indian rights activist, novelist, journalist, and was a pioneer in children's literature. But she is known today primarily by a poem she wrote in 1844, "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day." The poem was set to music and became the Thanksgiving song we know today as "Over the River and Through the Woods."
No one knows who wrote the melody.
Child was born in 1802 and became a well-known
Unitarian author and editor.
When Child began writing, there was virtually nothing published especially for children. In 1826 she started the first children's magazine,
Juvenile Miscellany, a tiny paper periodical she edited, writing many of the didactic little stories herself. The publication enjoyed wide support for nearly ten years.
In early 1833, she was named America's pre-eminent woman writer. Her successful literary career came to an abrupt end that same year when she published “An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans”, often cited as the first antislavery book. In it she reviewed the history of slavery. She insisted that slavery had an evil impact on both slave and slaveholder, and she outraged her Boston friends by describing Northerners' prejudice against blacks and the segregation that existed in Northern cities. As a result, subscriptions to Juvenile Miscellany were cancelled and Child was forced to resign as editor. Her readers stopped buying her books. The Boston Athenaeum trustees revoked her library privileges. Nevertheless, long before Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin” was published, Child's book won many converts to the antislavery cause.
"An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans" argued in favor of the immediate
emancipation of the slaves, and she is sometimes said to have been the first white person to have written a book in support of this policy.
In 1839, she was elected to the executive committee of the
American Anti-Slavery Society, and became editor of the society's National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1841. In 1861, Child helped
Harriet Ann Jacobs, with her Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
During the
1860s, Child wrote pamphlets on Indian rights. The most prominent, "An appeal for the Indians" (1868), called upon government officials, as well as religious leaders, to bring justice to American Indians. Her presentation sparked
Peter Cooper's interest in Indian issues, and led to the founding of the
United States Indian Commission and the subsequent Peace Policy in the administration of
Ulysses S. Grant.
She died in
Wayland, Massachusetts in 1880 at the age of 78.
Here are the lyrics to "Over the River and Through the Woods"
Over the river and thru the wood,To grandfather's house we go;The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!Over the river and thru the wood,Oh, how the wind does blow!It stings the toes and bites the nose,As over the ground we go.Over the river and through the woods,To have a first-rate play;Oh hear the bells ring,"Ting-a-ling-ling!"Hurrah for Thangsgiving Day.Over the river and through the woods,Trot fast my dapple gray!Spring over the ground,Like a hunting hound!For this is Thanksgiving Day.Over the river and through the woods,And straight through the barn-yard gate,We seem to goExtremely slowIt is so hard to wait!Over the river and through the woods,Now grandmother's cap I spy!Hurrah for the fun!Is the pudding done?Hurrah for the pumpkin pie! http://womenshistory.about.com/od/childlydiamaria/a/lydiamariachild.htmhttp://j.w.d.home.comcast.net/whs/Lydia_Maria_Child/lydia_maria_child.htm
