Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen (October 1, 1859 – November 23, 1941) was an American educator and author. She wrote fictional stories about wealthy African-American families in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

Personal life

Clarissa Minnie Thompson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, one of nine children of Eliza Henrietta Montgomery, a socialite, and Samuel Benjamin Thompson, a delegate in the South Carolina Constitutional Convention. She attended Howard Junior High School and a normal school in South Carolina. She worked at three different schools, including Allen University, where she taught subjects like algebra, Latin, physical geology, and history. She moved to Jefferson, Texas, around 1886, where she taught at a public school. She also lived in

Ft. Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, and worked in the public school system.

Career

Allen wrote fiction based around true stories about wealthy African-American families in the Southern United States. Her most notable work was ''Treading the Winepress'', also called ''A Mountain of Misfortune''. The book consisted of 41 stories about two families. The stories took place in "Capitolia," which was based on Columbia, South Carolina. The book includes love triangles and murder, as well as themes of womanhood, charity, and madness. It was a serialized publication and believed to be the first novel by an African-American woman from South Carolina.Epps, Edwin C. ''Literary South Carolina''. Hub City Writers Project: 2004: 25. She also wrote

novelette Novelette may also refer to: * ''Novelette'' (ballet), a solo modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham * Novelette (music), a short piece of lyrical music * Novelette (literature), a work of narrative prose fiction that is longer than a ...

s for Texas-based publications. Her poetry was also published in African American newspapers. Some reviewers believed that her work was anti-religious, specifically towards the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Clarissa Minnie Thompson 1859 births 1941 deaths Writers from Columbia, South Carolina 19th-century American women writers African-American poets American women poets American women novelists 19th-century American educators 19th-century African-American educators People from Fort Worth, Texas 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American poets 19th-century African-American women writers 19th-century American writers 19th-century African-American writers Allen University faculty Novelists from South Carolina 19th-century American women educators American women academics African-American novelists 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers

Personal life

Career

Further reading

References