Louisa May Alcott: Biographies of American Authors

Introduction

Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832, but her family soon moved to Massachusetts, the center of the nineteenth-century transcendental movement. Transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were to be lifelong friends and neighbors.

Louisa’s parents, Bronson and Abigail, were fervent abolitionists and advocates of women’s rights, and when Louisa was 15, the Alcotts worked with the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves move north. Bronson, a teacher, was frequently out of work due to his progressive beliefs, such as accepting a black student into his school, and Louisa soon became responsible for helping to support her parents and three sisters. Because of her father’s sometimes irresponsible zealotry, Louisa learned early on to rely on herself and made a vow never to marry.

Teaching was one respectable way for a young lady of her time to earn money. Being a writer was another. Louisa began her career as an author with rather lurid and daring short stories which she published under a nom de plume. When her publisher insisted she try writing a children’s novel, Louisa reluctantly put aside her fiery short stories and wrote Little Women, the novel for which she became best known. It was a tremendous success and is still enjoyed by people around the world. Thanks to Little Women and its sequels, Little Men and Jo’s Boys, Louisa was able to help her family financially throughout their lives.

As an early feminist, being independent was crucial to Louisa. She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War and fought for women’s right to vote, becoming the first woman in Concord to register to vote. Louisa May Alcott never set out to be a writer; she became one out of necessity to support her family. Nevertheless, she managed to write one of the most memorable and enduring children’s books ever, which is still being read 150 years after its publication.

Chapter One

The Alcott Family

Peddling is a hard place to serve God, but a capital one to serve Mammon.

—Amos Bronson Alcott

Louisa’s life was heavily influenced by her parents. Her father Amos Bronson Alcott, born in 1799, realized early on that he wanted to become a teacher. Before managing to find work as an educator, he eked out a living as a peddler of goods by going door to door. His own lack of formal education made him realize the important role education played in people’s lives. His views on teaching the young were contradictory to the prevailing beliefs of the times, however, and Bronson frequently found himself out of work.

Bronson believed that the content of early education had the power to form a person for life, a concept that is accepted in modern times but was not understood in the