Hartford Author and Early African American Essayist
by Antoinette Brim-Bell
A Young Writer in 1840s Hartford
In 1841, Ann Plato became the first African American woman known to publish a book of essays in the United States. Her volume Essays; Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry was published in Hartford when Plato was still a teenager. Although later critics sometimes dismissed her work as imitative, Plato’s publication marked a bold achievement. As a young Black and Native woman in 19th-century Hartford, she used education, religion, and literary skill to shape a public identity that allowed her to survive and advance in a restrictive society.
Plato lived and wrote in a city that described itself as committed to freedom but limited that freedom in practice. Connecticut had passed gradual emancipation in 1784, yet slavery continued in the state until 1848. Hartford also experienced racial tension, including a violent anti-Black riot in 1835. Women, especially women of color, faced narrow educational and economic opportunities. In this setting, Plato’s decision to publish a book was both ambitious and strategic.
Family Background and Early Influences
Scholars believe that Plato had African American and Indigenous ancestry. Her writing reflects a deep awareness of Indigenous loss and displacement in Connecticut. In her poem “The Natives of America,” she mourns the destruction and disappearance of Native communities. The poem speaks in the voice of a father who tells his daughter that their people have been “crush’d” and forced into the woods, now “diminish’d” and unknown. This language suggests both historical awareness and personal connection.
Some scholars also read Plato’s short narrative “Little Harriet” as partly autobiographical. In that story, a vulnerable young girl loses her family support and must rely on her own character, faith, and determination to survive. Whether autobiographical or not, the narrative reflects the precarious position of poor children of color in Hartford. Plato emphasizes the importance of moral discipline, education, and religious faith as tools for survival.
Religion and the Colored Congregational Church
Religion stands at the center of Plato’s book. She opens Essays with a piece titled “Religion,” which sets the tone for the entire volume. Plato presents Christianity as a source of peace, moral strength, and social harmony. She argues that religion “raises men above themselves” and promotes love and goodwill.
Plato belonged to Hartford’s Colored Congregational Church, where the Reverend James W. C. Pennington served as pastor. Pennington, a formerly enslaved man and a respected abolitionist minister, wrote the preface to her book. His endorsement lent credibility to her work and helped position her within Hartford’s Black intellectual and religious community.
Through her emphasis on Christian virtue, Plato aligned herself with the dominant moral values of her time. At the same time, she subtly suggested that true Christianity demanded justice and humane treatment. If religion promoted love and goodness, then racial prejudice contradicted Christian teaching. In this way, Plato used religious language to claim moral equality without directly attacking social structures.
Education as Advancement
Education forms another major theme in Essays. In her essay “Education,” Plato argues that learning prepares individuals for their “sphere of action” and strengthens both character and nation. She links education to religion, suggesting that people must learn to read and think in order to understand scripture and grow spiritually.
Plato also makes a broader civic argument. She states that a nation’s wealth and power depend on the education of its people. By connecting education to national strength, she implies that denying education to people of color harms the entire country. This argument allowed her to advocate for Black education in terms that white readers might accept.
Plato did not simply write about education; she pursued it. Records show that she taught in Hartford’s schools during the 1840s. A Common School Report from 1845 notes her three years of teaching experience. She later taught at the Elm Street School. For a young Black woman in Hartford, a teaching position represented stability, respectability, and entry into the emerging middle class.
Literary Influences and Intertextual Dialogue
Critics have often noted that Plato’s essays resemble the moral writings of Lydia Huntley Sigourney, a prominent Hartford poet sometimes called the “Sweet Singer of Hartford.” Plato likely read Sigourney’s Letters to Young Ladies and similar conduct literature. Some 19th-century reviewers accused Plato of imitation.
However, Plato’s engagement with Sigourney reflects more than imitation. Like many writers of the 18th and 19th centuries, Plato wrote within an established tradition. She adopted the structure and tone of moral essays but redirected them toward young women of color. While Sigourney addressed white middle-class readers, Plato imagined an audience of “colored girls” who needed encouragement, discipline, and hope in a society that offered them fewer protections.
Plato’s tone also differs from Sigourney’s. Where Sigourney often emphasized cheerfulness and refinement, Plato writes with seriousness and moral urgency. Her work reflects the realities of racial inequality and social instability in Hartford. By placing herself in conversation with well-known writers, Plato claimed intellectual space for herself and for other women of color.
Selected Works in the Anthology
The selections from Essays included in this anthology highlight Plato’s central concerns. “Religion” introduces her moral framework and demonstrates her rhetorical skill. “Education” reveals her belief in learning as both a spiritual duty and a social necessity. “The Natives of America” offers insight into her engagement with Indigenous history and identity in Connecticut. “Little Harriet” illustrates how virtue, faith, and perseverance can shape a young woman’s destiny.
Together, these works show Plato as a thoughtful and strategic writer. She crafted a public voice that balanced humility with ambition and moral instruction with quiet resistance.
Later Life and Legacy
After the mid-1840s, Plato disappears from the historical record. Some scholars suggest that Plato may have moved west and may appear in the 1870 federal census in Iowa under a different racial designation. What remains clear is that, as a teenager in Hartford, she achieved a rare and significant milestone: she published a book that asserted her intellect, faith, and right to participate in American literary culture.
Today, scholars recognize Ann Plato as an important early African American author and as a figure in Hartford’s literary history. Her work helps readers understand how a young Black and Native woman navigated the racial, religious, and educational structures of 19th-century Connecticut. By writing, teaching, and aligning herself with Hartford’s Black church community, Plato shaped a path toward autonomy and self-definition.
Anthology Selections
Preface to Essays by Ann Plato , Hartford 1841
To the Reader, by the Reverend James W. C. Pennington
Essays
Poems
Little Harriet
Lines, Written Upon Being Examined In School Studies for the Preparation of a Teacher.
Reflections, Written on Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend