Rebecca Harding Davis

RHD published in the later nineteenth-century United States over 500 works, including novels, short fiction, sketches, and social commentary that turned away from romanticism and sentimental fiction to a distinctively American, proletarian realism. She also developed an extensive career contributing articles and stories to the periodical press. In the context of the turmoil over early feminism and the Civil War, and with the insight gained from her own struggles as a writing woman, she created stories about contemporary social issues that earned her the label, from Henry James , of the poet of poor people. Owing to the extent of her ouevre, only a part of it is discussed here.