HARPER AT 200
Frances E. W. Harper at 200: Commemorating Her Life and Legacy
Frances E. W. Harper
September 24, 1825 – February 22, 1911
The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s birth. The Center for Black Digital Research/#DigBlk is hosting #Harper200, a slate of exciting scholarly and arts programming and community events to commemorate Harper’s life and legacy. Events include:
- Transcribe Harper, featuring Harper’s papers, starting on her 200th birthday, Sept. 25th
- A Frances Harper Mural in her adopted home of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia, Fall 2025
- An exciting special issue of new poetry in conversation with Harper’s poetry, life, and legacy with poetry workshops in schools, community centers, and beyond
- Read Harper!: A nationwide read-a-thon throughout 2025. Check it out!
- “Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200” :A major digital exhibit for teaching and research with curricula geared toward both K-12 and college students.
- “Frances E. W. Harper 200: Looking Back, Moving Forward, 1825–2025“: An academic symposium to be held Sept. 19–21, 2025 at Penn State University.
- “The Artistry and Activism of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper“: An original performance of dance, poetry, and music with events held in the places she lived and worked. Debuting Sept. 19 at PSU’s Center for the Performing Arts.
Stay tuned for updates throughout the year.
Have a Frances E. W. Harper event to add to our Harper events page? Let us know at digblk@psu.edu.
Now Available:
Transcribe Harper!
Join our transcribe-a-thon, you will make Harper’s letters, essays, newspaper pieces, and published writing fully searchable and freely available worldwide.
Frances E. W. Harper 200: Looking Back, Moving Forward, 1825–2025
A three-day, in-person symposium featuring a dance performance, five panels, five presentations of Harper commemoration events, and a reception to honor Dr. Frances Smith Foster.
Videos coming soon!
#Harper200 Nationwide Read-a-thon
Individuals or any group of readers—students, reading groups or book clubs, friends and family—are invited to use our resource to create their own reading adventure. We offer a suggested reading calendar of digitized texts accompanied by a video series with Harper experts including Frances Smith Foster, Brigette Fielder, Koritha Mitchell, Sherita Johnson, and Derrick Spires.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper at 200
This exhibit examines the work of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was an author and activist whose groundbreaking legacy has been foundational for Black women writers and organizers alike.