Frederick Douglas

The key point that affected his life is that he was born into slavery and it would have affected what he wrote because it was very important to him and something he knew a lot about.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The issue Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an advocate for is feminism. Yes, the importance of feminism to her had to do with the time period because women were fighting for rights and independence at that time.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

He was not making enough money. Yes, because a lot of the most famous authors were very poor and were not recognized for their work until after they died.

Herman Melville

Yes, I believe it to be relevant that Herman Melville was in the U.S. Navy and that his first book took place at sea because his descriptions in Moby Dick are so elaborate that they could have only come from his personal experience.

Edgar Allen Poe

Alcohol and drugs affected Edgar Allen Poe’s writing in that most of what he wrote was very dark and warped, he was criticized, and called a mad man.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an advocate for slavery through her first novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond to honor his brother and while he was there he wrote Civil Disobedience.

Washington Irving

Washington Irving established his reputation as an essayist and wit through his contribution to such miscellany as Kirke Paulding and Opinions of Lancelot Langstaff.

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was the foremost black educator of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He influenced race relations in the South by speaking to the whites and blacks about his own experiences and he was involved in many anti-slavery movements.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was a firm believer in democracy and he greatly admired Abraham Lincoln. He showed his admiration for Abraham Lincoln by writing “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” upon Lincoln’s death.