Maria W. Stewart

Maria W. Stewart (née Miller) (1803 – December 17, 1879) was an American writer, lecturer, teacher, and activist from Hartford, Connecticut. She was the first known American woman to publicly lecture on the abolitionist movement. Her speeches and essays contributed to the educational and social advancement of African Americans. Today, she is recognized for her role in both the abolitionist and women's rights movements in the United States.

Stewart published two pamphlets in The Liberator "Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, The Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build" (1831), which called for abolition and Black autonomy, and "Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria Stewart" (1832). Her public speaking career was brief, ending after a controversial speech in 1833. After retiring from lecturing, she worked as a school teacher and later became the head matron at at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Stewart died in 1879.