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__Margaret Fuller__ by: Daniela Nguyen  __Biography__:

 Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, a well read woman, was one of the most educated women of the 1800’s. Sarah Margaret Fuller was born on May 23,1810 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. She was named after her grandmother, but by the age of nine, she dropped “Sarah” and insisted on being called Margaret. The Margaret Fuller House, where she was born, still stands today. Her father, Timothy Fuller, taught her how to read at the age of three. Margaret Fuller had a sister, Julia Adelaide, who died at the age of fourteen months.

 Margaret’s father offered her an education as harsh as any boy’s at the time and refused to allow her to read the typical feminine manuscripts of the time, such as etiquette books and sentimental novels. Shortly after the birth of his son Eugene in May of 1815, he added Latin to her studies, and soon, Margaret was translating simple passages from Virgil, a famous Latin poet. Later in life, Margaret blamed her father’s valuation for perfection for her childhood nightmares and sleepwalking. In 1817, her bother William was born, and her father was elected as a representative in the United States Congress. For the next eight years, he spent four to six months a year in Washington D.C.

 Fuller began her formal education at the Port School in Cambridgeport in 1819 before attending the Boston Lyceum for Young Ladies from 1821 to 1822.In 1824 she was sent to the School for Young Ladies in Groton on the advice of aunts and uncles, though she resisted the idea at first. Fuller left the Groton school and returned home at the age of 16 after having studied there for two years. At home, she studied. By this time, she realized she did not fit in with the other young women her age. She wrote, “I have felt that I was not born to the common womanly lot.” Eliza Farrar, wife of Harvard professor John Farrar, attempted to train her in feminine etiquette until the age of twenty, though she was never completely successful.

 Since Margaret was such a devoted reader, by the time she was in her 30s, she had earned a reputation as the best-read person, male or female, in New England. She used her knowledge to give private lessons based on the teaching style of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. She wanted to earn her living through journalism and translation. Her father died of cholera on October 2, 1835 and she was extremely affected by his death. After this, she vowed to step in as head of the family and take care of her mother and younger siblings; her father had not left a will, so two of her uncles gained control of this property and finances, which added up to $18,098.15. This forced the family to rely on their support, but humiliated by the way her uncles were treating her family, Fuller wrote that she regretted being “of softer sex, and never more than now”. In 1836, she was given a job teaching at Bronson Alcott’s Temple School in Boston, where she remained for a year,then an invitation to teach at the Green Street School in Providence, Rhode Island, which she accepted with the unusually high salary of $1,000 per year.

 Traveling to Italy in 1847, Fuller met Giovanni Ossoli, who she married a year later. By New Year’s Day 1848, she suspected that she was pregnant, kept it from Ossoli for several weeks. Their child, Angelo Eugene Philip Ossoli, was born in September 1848, and they nicknamed him Angelino. The couple was very secretive about their relationship, but after Angelino suffered an unamed illness, they became closer. Fuller finally informed her mother about Ossoli and Angelino in August 1849; the letter explained that she had kept silent so not to upset her “but it became necessary, on account of the child, for us to live publicly an permanently together.” She made it clear that she knew a legal marriage had not taken place, but she was happy for her daughter. Fuller’s family died in a shipwreck by Fire Island in the year of 1850. It is said that she had wanted to be left on the ship to die.

__Qualities__: 1. Precocious- 2. Intelligent/well-read-
 * she could read at the age of three
 * learned Greek and Latin at a very young age (4-5)

3. Determination-
 * known as best-read person in New England (during her time)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">first woman allowed to use the Harvard College Library
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">worked hard to dissolve prejudice towards women

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Obstacles __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">A major obstacle that Margaret Fuller faced was sexism. She strongly disliked how women were considered inferior, and her determination and courage helped her fight against it. Her great knowledge proved that women were just as capable as men. One example was when she was the first woman to be allowed into the Harvard College Library.

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