Frances E. W. Harper

"The Slave Mother" Biography <Tab/>Although Frances Harper was not born into a slave family in 1825 in Baltimore, Maryland, she nevertheless suffered from the oppressive slave laws and rampant discrimination of the time. Her mother died when she was three, falling into the care of her aunt and uncle. Until the age of thirteen, she attended the free school for colored children in which her uncle, Rev. William Watkins, taught. Despite …

…About the son, Harper repeats, "He is not hers . . ." in verse five and six, coupled with a line that shows how he is connected to his mother. Harper emphasizes, " . . .her blood / Is coursing through his veins!" (ln 19-20). Also, Harper shows that slaves create homes in their communities by typifying the boy as a "wreath of household love" (ln 23) to the mother. Separating slave families is brutal and destructive to the growth of their communities.