The Controversy of “Eliza Harris” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Anonymous College

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “Eliza Harris” was written in a time where the world was an unforgiving brutal place for African American slaves. Harper uses an intense amount of emotion to try and create a sense of empathy from her readers. She is trying to instill fear and terror in her readers by describing the ugly truth and reality of the lives of African Americans in the United States during this time period. This poem speaks to the individual by humanizing the character Eliza Harris. Harper was an African American abolitionist who lived right in the middle of a time where slavery was very prominent. Even after the Civil War that ended slavery, Harper continued to fight for women’s rights. By writing a piece like this Harper has a lot to lose. She may lose support of people who disagree with her, which unfortunately was a lot of people during this time period. Harper uses fear, introspective ideas making “the individual” relevant, as well as presenting her democratic ideas in a different way that made an impact on her readers.

Harper uses a fear factor to appeal to her readers sense of empathy for humanity. One example of how she does this is, “How the depths of the forest may echo around / With the shrieks of despair, and...