The Education of Laura Bridgman

The Education of Laura Bridgman (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

At a glance:

In the middle years of the nineteenth century, Laura Bridgman was one of the best-known women in the world, possibly second only to Queen Victoria. Her mentor, Samuel Gridley Howe, publicized her accomplishments as proof of the power and resilience of human nature. Ernest Freeberg, mindful of Howe’s importance in Bridgman’s life, accords him a major role in her biography, using Howe’s ideas to illuminate mid-nineteenth century beliefs.

Samuel Gridley Howe, born November 10, 1801, attended Brown University because his father, an ardent Jeffersonian, refused to send him to...

[The entire page is 2007 words long]

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