MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History November 29, 1832: Louisa May Alcott, author, nurse, feminist and abolitionist, was born. Her writing was influenced by the transcendentalists, like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Longfellow, whom she knew personally. While she was most famous for her book, “Little Women,” she also wrote “Work,” an autobiographical novel that exposed the exploitation of women workers. Poverty forced her to work at a young age as a teacher, seamstress, governess and domestic. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse and developed typhoid fever. The medicine she took contained mercury, which may have contributed to the autoimmune disorders that plagued her for the rest of her life and that ultimately killed her. She is buried on Author’s Ridge, at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, in Concord, near Emerson, Thoreau and Hawthorne.</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/louisamayalcott" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>louisamayalcott</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/feminism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>feminism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>slavery</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Abolition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Abolition</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nurse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nurse</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/teacher" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>teacher</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/poverty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>poverty</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/exploitation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>exploitation</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/thoreau" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>thoreau</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/hawthorne" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hawthorne</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/longfellow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>longfellow</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/emerson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>emerson</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/civilwar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>civilwar</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>books</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/literature" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>literature</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/bookstadon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>bookstadon</span></a></span></p>