Margaret Fuller, born in 1810, believed that women should lead full and abundant lives, even though most people at the time thought that being a wife and a mother was quite enough for women to do.

But Margaret was not only extremely smart, she liked to be in conversation with other people, exploring ideas and thinking about how the world could be better. She was good friends with famous intellectuals of the time, like Emerson and Thoreau. But she especially liked to make a place for women to have conversations that would be a chance for “self-expression and independent thinking.” Many women who participated in these conversations went on to be leaders in the movement for women’s equality.

In 1846, the quest for more abundant life took Margaret Fuller to Europe, where she worked as a foreign correspondent, sending newspaper articles about events in Europe back to the United States.

While in Italy, Margaret became involved in the Italian revolution, and fell in love with another revolutionary, a younger man who was an Italian noble. The two of them had a son, and eventually decided to come back to the US. Sadly, their ship sank in a storm within sight of shore, and they never made it back. But while she lived, Margaret Fuller certainly lived abundantly!

To learn more, visit margaretfuller.org.

“A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body” -Margaret Fuller