PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Louisa May Alcott- November 29, 1832- March 6, 1888
Louisa May Alcott- November 29, 1832- March 6, 1888
Louisa May Alcott- November 29, 1832- March 6, 1888
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Louisa May Alcott's parents were New Englanders who were active in the mid 19th century social reform movement supporting the abolition of slavery.
Alcotts lived at Wayside in Concord,
Mass for seven years, at which time it was a safe house for the underground railroad.
Louisa May Alcott was educated mainly by her father, although Thoreau, Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller—all family friends—also gave her lessons. She began writing when she was young, and she and her sisters acted out some of her stories in plays performed for family and friends.
Louisa May worked as a seamstress, governess and teacher to help her family's finances. She became a working author when she sold short stories and poems to magazines in her early twenties.
Louisa wrote Flower Fables, her first book, at age 22.
In 1863, she published Hospital Sketches, a fictionalized account, based on her letters, of her stressful yet meaningful experiences as a wartime nurse. The book became massively popular and was reprinted in 1869 with more material.
Louisa wrote Little Women to help her father. They made a deal with her publisher, she would write a girls book and they would publish her father's book.
Publisher Thomas Niles wanted Louisa to write a novel for girls in 1867. She couldn't get excited about this topic because she had always been a tomboy and had nothing to do with girls.
Louisa wrote Little Women based on her childhood with her 3 sisters. It was published in 1868 and it was a huge success. She then wrote the second part in 1869, Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886).
In the 1870's, Louisa was active in the sufferagette movement.
Louisa May Alcott wrote a total of 30 books and a collection of short stories. She decided to remain unmarried in order to help her family.
Louisa suffered from mercury poisoning from nursing during the Civil War. She had a weakened immune system, vertigo, and had episodes of hallucinations. To combat the pain caused by the mercury poisoning, she took opium. Louisa died in 1888 from a stroke. She was 55 years old,
