Harriet E. Wilson

Harriet E. Wilson (c. 1825–1900) was an African American author and spiritualist. Born free in New Hampshire, she was orphaned and indentured to a white family, enduring harsh labor and abuse. Her only known novel, "Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black" (1859), is a semi-autobiographical account of these experiences, making it the first novel published by an African American woman in the United States. After its publication, Wilson faded from public view, working as a spiritualist speaker and healer. The novel was rediscovered in the 1980s by scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who confirmed its authorship and historical significance. "Our Nig" is now recognized as a foundational text in African American literature, challenging the myth of a benevolent North and expanding the canon of early American fiction.