Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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The great-niece of American author and abolitionist advocate Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charlotte Anna Perkins [Gilman] was born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. Despite the affluence of her famous ancestors, Gilman was born into poverty. Her father abandoned the family when Gilman was a small child, and her mother, nearly destitute, was forced to move with Charlotte and her brother nineteen times in eighteen years. They eventually settled in Providence, Rhode Island. As a result, Gilman received just four years of formal education. Nevertheless, she eked out a small living in her late teens by teaching drawing and painting and by designing artistically innovative advertising cards for the Kendall Manufacturing Company in Providence. She vowed never to marry, intending instead to remain…

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Citation: Knight, Denise. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1751, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1751 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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