Career and Writings
Margaret Fuller showed her passion for women's rights as she wrote, published, and fought alongside other influential women of the time throughout her life and career. Fuller first became interested in literature at a young age during her education and began translating German literature. In 1837, she was offered a job at Alcotts Temple School in Boston to teach young girls Latin and French for a salary of 1000 a year. Margaret also formed classes while she taught at Alcott to teach young women French, German, and Italian.
Fuller returned to Cambridge in 1839 and began teaching conversational classes, which she is best known for. Before starting these classes, Fuller wrote to Sophia Ripley explaining her intentions “Thus to pass in review the departments of our thought and knowledge and endeavor to place them in due relation to one another in our minds To systematize thought and give precision in which our sex are so deficient, chiefly, I think because they have so few inducements to test and classify what they receive. To ascertain what pursuits are best suited to us in our time and state society, and how we may make best use of our means for building up the life of thought upon the life of action.” 1In this Passage, Fuller argues that women lack opportunities to analyze information critically, and because of this, their education and intelligence are limited. She also urges women to find activities that are best suited to them and will help them create meaningful actions. “She was elevating the thought of a group to whom at that time thought was practically taboo”2. These conversational classes were designed to give women a safe space to critically engage in literature, philosophy, and other educational topics they were not allowed to be taught in the male-dominated education system.
In 1839, Margaret Fuller became the editor of The Dial, a journal founded by a group of transcendentalists. She was the editor of The Dial until 1842. During her time working, she contributed many passages to the journal making her a significant figure in the transcendentalist movement. In her writings, she covered many topics including literature, philosophy, social reform, women's rights, and other intellectual topics. In one of her writings from The Dial called Woman-Her Sphere and Education, Fuller argues that women are just as intellectual as men and should have the same opportunities and resources. “Give the soul free course, let the organization be freely developed, and the being will be fit for any and every relation to which it may be called.” 3 This quote from Woman-Her Sphere and Education demonstrates that she believes all women should be allowed to grow and develop intellectually and spiritually without the constricting societal expectations of femininity and marriage and if they can do so women will be fit for anything that comes their way.
In 1845 one of Margaret Fuller's most famous works was published called Woman in the Nineteenth Century. This essay was meant to encourage and teach women to look beyond societal norms of marriage and womanhood and to explore education. In the preface of her book, she writes a message to the women and men who read saying, she hopes the women reading will take the information she shares and heavily reflect on it and create their own new experiences using their newfound knowledge and she asks the men to pay close attention and to take the knowledge in without prejudice.4 Through this work, she aimed to promote women's roles and equality of the sexes in society. A year before publishing Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Fuller joined the New York Tribune as a literary critic and in 1846 became the first female editor. In her time working for New York Tribune she published over 250 pieces of work revolving around a wide range of topics such as philosophy, women's rights, societal reform, etc solidifying her as an important figure in journalism.
1"Margaret Sarah Fuller," Walden.org, accessed December 1, 2024, https://www.walden.org/what-we-do/library/thoreau/margaret-sarah-fuller/.
2Egan, Lavinia Hartwell. "Margaret Fuller—Feminist and Literateur." Equal Rights, vol. 1, no. 32 (September 22, 1923). District of Columbia: National Woman's Party, 1923: 7-8. Url:https://search-alexanderstreet-com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity|document|3836713, Date Accessed: 10/23/2024
3Fuller, Margaret. 1845. "Woman—Her Sphere and Education." The New-York Daily Tribune, January 13, 1845. Accessed November 8, 2024. https://www.walden.org/the-margaret-fuller-society-collection/fullers-journalism-for-the-new-york-daily-tribune/fullers-woman-her-sphere-and-education/.
4Fuller, Margaret. Woman in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Greeley & McElrath, 1845. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044012989893&seq=33, 6.
By: Riley McFarland
