Henrietta Buckmaster

American journalist
Henrietta Buckmaster
Born
Henrietta Delancey Henkle

(1909-03-10)March 10, 1909
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 26, 1983(1983-04-26) (aged 74)
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality (legal)American
Other namesHenrietta Henkle Stephens
OccupationWriter
Notable workLet My People Go
Deep River[1]
SpousePeter John Stephens

Henrietta Delancey Henkle (March 10, 1909 – April 26, 1983), better known by her pen name Henrietta Buckmaster, was an activist, journalist, and author best known for writing historical studies and novels.[2] She was also active in the civil rights movement.[3][4]

Biography

Buckmaster was born in Cleveland, Ohio[5] in 1909 to editor Rae D. Henkle and Pearl (Wintermute) Henkle and grew up in New York city. She attended Friends Seminary and the Brearley School.[2]

Buckmaster became a journalist and author focusing on historical books and novels, as well as being a book reviewer for some time. A major theme of her books was human freedom, and her subjects were often American slaves and women.[2] In 1944 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship,[4] for which she received a sponsorship from W.E.B. Du Bois.[6] Her most well known book, Let My People Go, focused on the Underground Railroad and the Abolition movement.[7][4] Her writing was praised for "without departing from fact" being "as dramatic as it is informative."[8] She combined scholarship with the "concern of the civil libertarian."[2]

Buckmaster was also involved in the civil-rights movement, as well as fighting for the rights of American Indians and prisoners.[4] She played a role as one of the leaders of The Committee for Equal Justice.[3]

Personal life

She was briefly married to Peter John Stephens, and wrote under the name Henrietta Henkle Stephens. She died in 1983 after a short illness at 74.[4]

Partial list of published works

  • Tomorrow Is Another Day (1934)
  • His End Was His Beginning (1936)
  • Let My People Go (1941)
  • Deep River (1944)
  • Fire in the Heart (1948)
  • Bread from Heaven (1952)
  • And Walk in Love (1956)
  • Lucy and Loki (1958)
  • Flight to Freedom (1958)
  • All the Living (1962)
  • Walter Raleigh: Man of Two Worlds (1964)
  • Paul: A Man Who Changed the World (1965)
  • Freedom Bound (1965)
  • The Seminole Wars (1966)
  • Women Who Shaped History (1966)
  • The Lion in the Stone (1968)
  • The Fighting Congressmen: Thaddeus Stevens, Hiram Revels, James Rapier, Blanche K. Bruce (1971)
  • The Walking Trip (1972)
  • Wait Until Evening (1974)

References

  1. ^ "Henrietta Buckmaster". Find a grave. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Buckmaster, Henrietta". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power New York: Vintage Books, 2011. p. 26.
  4. ^ a b c d e "HENRIETTA BUCKMASTER, 74, WAS A NOVELIST AND EDITOR". New York Times. 27 April 1983.
  5. ^ "Let My People Go The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of the Abolitionist Movement". University of South Carolina press. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Letter from Henrietta Buckmaster to W. E. B. Du Bois, April 5, 1944". umass.edu. UMass Amherst. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  7. ^ Reddick, L. D. (1 April 1941). "Henrietta Buckmaster, Let My People Go; the Story of the Underground Railroad...". The Journal of African American History. 26 (2): 256.
  8. ^ "Henrietta Buckmaster, a distinguished author of books for both children and adults, projects in her history of the..." Kirkus Reviews. 1 August 1958. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
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