Emily Howland
Emily Howland was a participant in the Women’s Rights movement and a supporter of African American education. She helped to fund, form, and teach in dozens of schools for the formerly enslaved, and thus was an abolitionist. Howland lived relatively near to the Sewards and visited their Auburn house. Fanny repeatedly mentioned her in her diary over the span of many years, and she would sometimes visit her schools. Frances was known to donate money for these schools, as well. Notice how Fanny used the term “contraband” to describe emancipated slaves in her entries.
“While Sue and I were sitting in the library Miss Howland called. She is here to help & teach the contrabands at their camp. She boards at Dr. Breed’s. She has a bad cold, and or did not feel well.” Feb 10, 1863
“Miss Howland and Miss Searing…told us much about the contrabands. Some who belonged to Mrs Maury, who used to live at the observatory–Mrs M. used to pinch their ears and noses with red hot tongs, and black them over that they might not be discovered. She would also pinch their ears with her scissors handles till they were all worn and slit. Once she beat a girl till her back was covered with blood for reading in a book-and threatened to kill her if she did it again. This is a southern lady. Miss Howland says they do not complain much of these things, only talking of them when they are questioned.” Mar 10, 1863
Emily Howland. Photomechanical print published in American Women: Fifteen Hundred Biographies with over 1,400 Portraits (1897). Library of Congress