Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice (1901-1902) is a novel by African American author Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins. Originally published in The Colored American Magazine, America’s first monthly periodical covering African American arts and culture, Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice is a groundbreaking novel. Addressing themes of race and slavery through the lens of romance, Hopkins’ novel is thought to be the first detective novel written by an African American author.
Set just before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice takes place on the outskirts of Baltimore where, on neighboring estates, a man and woman fall in love. When Hagar Sargeant returns home after four years of study at a seminary in the North, she meets Ellis Enson, an older gentleman and self-made man who resides at the stately Enson Hall. After a brief courtship, the pair are engaged to be married. As the wedding approaches, Hagar’s mother—who has controlled the family estate since her husband’s death—dies unexpectedly, leaving Hagar the home and its accompanying grounds. Despite this tragic loss, Ellis and Hagar look forward to starting a family together—but when a man from the deep south arrives claiming the young woman was born a slave, their lives are changed forever. Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice is a thrilling work of romance and detective fiction from a true pioneer of American literature, a woman whose talent and principles afforded her the vision necessary for illuminating the injustices of life in a nation founded on slavery and genocide.
This edition of Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins’ Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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About the author
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859-1930) was an African American novelist, playwright, and historian. Born in Portland, Maine, Hopkins was raised in Boston by her mother and adopted father. Supported in her academic pursuits from a young age, Hopkins excelled at Girls High School, where she won a local competition for her essay on the raising of children. In 1877, she began her career as a dramatist with a production in Saratoga, which encouraged her to write a musical entitled Slaves’ Escape; or, The Underground Railroad (1880). In 1900, she published “Talma Gordon, ” now considered the first mystery story written by an African American author. Having established herself as a professional writer, she published three serial novels in the periodical The Colored American Magazine, including Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice (1901-1902) and Winona: A Tale of Negro Life in the South and Southwest (1902-1903). Often compared to her contemporaries Charles Chestnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar, Hopkins made a name for herself as a successful and ambitious author who advocated for the rights of African Americans at a time of intense violence and widespread oppression.
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