Lydia Maria Child (February 11, 1802, Medford - July 7, 1880, Wayland) was an American abolitionist, novelist, and journalist. She was born in Medford, Massachusetts to Susannah Rand Francis and Convers Francis.

In 1839, Lydia Child 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.

Child's works

• Hobomok (1824) was the first historical novel published in the United States
• The Rebels (1825).
• Juvenile Miscellany (1826)
• The Frugal Housewife (1829)
• An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans (1833)
• Letters from New York (1843)
• The Freedmen's Book (1865)

External links

• Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist:Lydia Maria Child http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/lydiamariachild.html
• UVA: Etexts for Lydia Child http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/eaf/authors/first/lmfc.html
• Biography from Spartacus Educational http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASchild.htm
• UVA: Freedman's Book http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/rec_acq/lit/child.html