Magnolia Leaves

Mary Weston Fordham (1862-1905) was an African American poet and educator. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, she was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Weston and Louise Bonneau. As a young woman, she worked for the American Missionary Association as a teacher. Towards the end of her life, Fordham published Magnolia Leaves (1897), a collection of sixty-six poems on African American life during the Reconstruction Era and beyond. While little is known about her life, it is suggested in her poetry that she suffered the loss of six children at a young age.