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Louisa May Alcott. 1832-1888. Childhood. Born in 1832 in Pennsylvania Her father was Amos Bronson Alcott, a well-known transcendentalist Her mother was Abigail May Alcott, a women’s suffrage advocate
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Louisa May Alcott 1832-1888
Childhood • Born in 1832 in Pennsylvania • Her father was Amos Bronson Alcott, a well-known transcendentalist • Her mother was Abigail May Alcott, a women’s suffrage advocate • The family moved to Massachusetts in 1834 and her father became a member of the Transcendental Club with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau • Most of her education came from her father, though she also received lessons from the likes of Thoreau, Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller
Young Adulthood • Louisa was an abolitionist and a feminist, even housing a fugitive slave for a week in 1847 • Poverty forced her to begin working at the age of 15 • Seamstress • Teacher • Domestic helper • Writer • She vowed, "I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t!" • Her first book, Flower Fables, was published in 1849 • It was a collection of stories originally written for Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughter • She also published many poems and stories under various pen names, such as Flora Fairfield and A. M. Barnard
Midlife • She began writing for the Atlantic Monthly in 1860 • When the Civil War broke out, Louisa served as a Union nurse in Georgetown, D.C. for six weeks (1862-1863) • Her letters home were compiled, revised, and published as Hospital Sketches (1863) • She received critical praise for it • Became editor of a girl’s magazine, Merry’s Museum, in 1868
Literary Success • Little Women was published in 1869 and provided Louisa with financial success • Her published requested that she write a book for girls • Based on Louisa and her sisters coming of age during the Civil War in New England • Jo, the protagonist, is based on herself • Spawned several sequels, including Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys • Published several other novels, including: • Eight Cousins • Rose in Bloom • Under the Lilacs • Jack and Jill
She died in 1888, just two days after her father