Lydia Maria Child

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) was an American abolitionist, novelist, journalist, and advocate for women’s rights. She gained early literary success with the historical novel *Hobomok* (1824) and later used her prominence to challenge slavery and racial injustice. Her influential treatise *An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans* (1833) argued for immediate emancipation and equal rights, helping to shift public debate in the United States. Child also edited the abolitionist newspaper *The National Anti-Slavery Standard* in the 1840s. Across essays, fiction, and commentary, she linked moral reform with social and political change.