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Contribution #247 of 365
Harriet E. Wilson
Novelist and Household-Goods Entrepreneur
1859–1900s
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born free in New Hampshire in 1825 to a Black father and white mother, Harriet E. Wilson survived indentured labor and poverty before publishing Our Nig in 1859. The work is recognized as the first novel published in the United States by a Black American woman. Wilson later earned income through lectures and the sale of household remedies and products, combining authorship with small-scale enterprise.