Amos Bronson Alcott

Amos Bronson Alcott was born in Wolcott, Connecticut in 1799. He had only minimal former schooling before he started a career as a traveling salesman. He then became a teacher, using innovative but controversial teaching methods that emphasized dialogue over punishment. Alcott relayed his experience as a teacher into two books, Records of a School and Conversations with Children on the Gospels. Alcott was also an abolitionist, an advocate for women’s rights, a vegan, and a transcendentalist. One of his close friends included fellow transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Alcott was the father of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women.