Maria Stewart

Biography

Early Life

Maria Stewart was a leading voice for women in Black religious circles during the nineteenth century and has been identified by scholars as the first American woman to deliver public political speeches.  

Born in 1803, Stewart was orphaned by the age of five in Hartford, Connecticut where she came of age in a religious household.  The minister’s home in which she lived valued women’s purity over educating girls, prompting Stewart to pursue a formal education from Sabbath Schools in her teens.  

In 1826, she married James Stewart at the African Baptist Church in Boston only to be left a widow less than four years later.   

Though Stewart maintained a Christian faith throughout her life, it was not until 1830 that religion radically changed her life.  She recalled,  

“From the moment I experienced the change, I felt a strong desire, with the help and assistance of God, to devote the remainder of my days to piety and virtue, and now possess that spirit of independence, that, were I called upon, I would willingly sacrifice my life for the cause of God and my brethren.” 

From this point in her life, Stewart began writing and delivering public speeches about her religious convictions and political advocacy for Black liberation.   

Providing a Path for Women

In the early 1830s, Stewart began traveling in New England as an evangelist. She also published her writings – including Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build in 1831, and Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart in 1832.  Her speeches were also published in the Liberator, the famed abolitionist newspaper. 

Stewart was certainly faced with challenges as a trailblazer.  Yet, she held true to her beliefs proclaiming, “The frowns of the world shall never discourage me, nor its smiles flatter me; for, with the help of God, I am resolved to withstand the fiery darts of the devil and the assaults of wicked men.”  

Her public presence as a Black woman preceded the Female Anti-Slavery Society’s founding in 1833 and paved the way for women of all races to speak publicly with their distinct voices about religious, social justice, and political issues.  

She believed that “It was God alone who inspired my heart to publish the meditations thereof; and it was done with pure motives of love to your souls, in the hope that Christians might examine themselves, and sinners become pricked in their hearts.” 

Social Trailblazer

Following her successful public speaking tour, Stewart moved from Boston and eventually landed in Washington, D.C. where she spent the rest of her life.  She channeled her public activism into education as a teacher and later as the Head Matron of the Freedmen’s Hospital.  

Before her death in 1879, Stewart was successful in re-publishing Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart.  Maria Stewart’s writings continue to resonate with contemporary audiences, and her bold venture into public speaking and religious activism has a lasting impact on generations of women around the world.