Ednah Dow Cheney
Ednah Dow Cheney (1824-1904) was a prominent figure in the New England Transcendentalist movement and an advocate for women's rights and education. Born into a family with a strong background in commerce and progressive ideals, Cheney was educated in various schools, although she faced challenges with discipline. Influenced by her radical abolitionist beliefs, she became a dedicated supporter of women's suffrage and worked tirelessly to create educational opportunities for women. Cheney co-founded the Boston School of Design and played key roles in organizations like the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
After the loss of her husband, Seth Wells Cheney, she continued her advocacy through writing and community service. Notable works include *The Handbook for American Citizens*, aimed at educating freed slaves, and her biography of Louisa May Alcott, which provides invaluable insights into Alcott's life. Cheney's literary contributions also include a sequel to Ibsen's *A Doll's House*, reflecting her nuanced understanding of character and societal norms. Her work and legacy illustrate her commitment to social reform and the empowerment of women in the 19th century.
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Ednah Dow Cheney
Writer
- Born: June 27, 1824
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: November 19, 1904
Biography
Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney belonged to the second generation of New England Transcendentalists. She was the daughter of Sargent Smith Littlehale, a successful grocer, and Ednah Parker Dow. Her maternal grandfather was a tanner in New Hampshire. Cheney was educated at the schools of the Misses Pemberton, William B. Fowle, and Joseph H. Abbot; she was asked to leave Abbot’s school because of her lack of discipline.
Cheney’s father was a Universalist who supported women’s suffrage but was critical of radical abolitionists. In spite of her father’s views, Cheney became a disciple of the radical abolitionist Theodore Parker. In 1851, she helped found the Boston School of Design as a coeducational institution. On May 19, 1853, she became the second wife of Seth Wells Cheney and accompanied him on a trip to Europe. Seth died a year after their daughter Margaret Swan was born, and Ednah never remarried. She wrote a memoir of Seth in 1881.
Cheney supported women’s suffrage and actively devoted herself to opening up educational and professional opportunities for women. She organized the New England Hospital for Women and Children to provide medical education for women, and she served first as secretary and then as president of that organization. She joined the New England Women’s Club, founded in 1868, and worked to establish the Massachusetts Women’s School Association for school board elections and the Horticultural School for Women in Boston. After the Civil War, she became secretary of the Teachers’ Commission of the Freedman’s Bureau and traveled in the South.
She published The Handbook for American Citizens in 1866, which contained a copy of the Constitution and survey of U.S. history, intended to serve as a textbook for freed slaves. Cheney’s daughter died in 1882, and she published a memoir of her in 1889. Cheney later published Nora’s Return: A Sequel to “The Doll’s House” (1890), in which Nora returns home to attend to her repentant and ailing husband Helmar. The family is then reunited. In spite of the sentimental plot line, Cheney astutely analyzes Helmar’s character as incapacitated by his egoism and conventionalism.
As early as 1840, Cheney had allied herself with the Boston transcendentalists—Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, James Freeman Clark, Amos Bronson, and Bronson Alcott. Cheney lectured on the history of art at the Concord School of Philosophy with Bronson Alcott, who was the architect of the utopian community, Fruitlands. Cheney was the first biographer of his daughter, Louisa May Alcott, author of the celebrated Little Women. Cheney’s biography, Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (1889), remains the only source for Alcott’s now lost diary of her life at Fruitlands.