Born in 1802 in Massachusetts, Lydia Maria Child was an American writer and journalist, and she was widely known as a social reformer. In 1833 she authored "An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans," which was the first anti-slavery work published in the United States. Besides her abolitionist reform, Child was also an activist for women s rights and Indian rights. She wrote the Thanksgiving poem Over the River and Through the Wood, which is still recited today, as well as the works "Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times," "The Mother s Book," and "An Appeal for the Indians." Child died in 1880 at the age of 78."
