Sarah Farro

Sarah E. Farro was a 19th-century African American novelist. Her only known novel, True Love: A Story of English Domestic Life, was published in 1891 by Donohue & Henneberry in Chicago. Despite being only one of a handful of known African-Americans that published a novel in the 1800s, little is known about her life.[1][2]

According to census records, Farro was born in Illinois in about 1859. Her parents were born in the Southern United States and later moved to Chicago, and she had two younger sisters.[1][2]

Farro published her novel True Love when she was 26 years old. At the time of its release, American newspapers stated it was the first novel to be published by an African-American woman.[3] The book is a domestic romance and melodrama set in England, and follows the story of a man who is unable to marry his love, Janey, due to her mother's interference.[2][1] Farro's favorite writers were Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Charles Dickens.[4]

After the novel's release, it was praised by newspapers in both the United Kingdom and United States, and it was exhibited at the 1893 World's Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago, as part of an exhibit of 58 books by female writers from Illinois.[2][1] In 1937, Farro was honored at a Chicago event that celebrated "outstanding race pioneers". Farro likely did not write another novel after her first, and her date of death is unknown.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d "Why was one of only four African-Americans to publish a novel in the 19th century forgotten?". The Independent. Jun 2, 2016. Retrieved Feb 22, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "UMass Amherst Scholar's Research Discovers Forgotten 19th-Century African-American Novelist Sarah E. Farro". Office of News & Media Relations | UMass Amherst. Retrieved Feb 22, 2019.
  3. ^ "Sarah E Farro, early black novelist". The Morning Democrat. 17 July 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).