An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans

Mrs. Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was widely read and extremely well informed. She was the successful and popular author of a novel (Hobomok) and several how-to books (The Frugal Housewife, The Mother's Book, The Girl's Own Book), and editor of the Juvenile Miscellany. She was also a former educator and a member of the learned and reform-minded intellectual circles in Boston, both in her own right and as the younger sister of Convers Francis (1795-1863), a Unitarian minister, Harvard professor, and member of the Transcendental Club. In 1828 she married David Lee Child (1794-1874), another Harvard graduate, schoolmaster, diplomat, and lawyer. Their association with William Lloyd Garrison prompted Mrs. Child to publish this Appeal, for which she paid the price of alienating a significant portion of her previous audience. She did not waver but went on to edit the National Anti-Slavery Standard in New York City (1840-1844) and continued to write in support of emancipation, women's rights, and native rights as well.

“Karcher’s new edition of Lydia Maria Child’s 1833 groundbreaking study of slavery and racial prejudice in the United States provides an invaluable text for students of American history and literature, African American studies, women’s studies, and the history of political reform movements . . . Karcher has done a great service to students and teachers in making Child’s Appeal available in an accessible, attractive, scholarly edition.”—MELUS