Lillien Blanche Fearing (November 27, 1863 – August 13, 1900) was an American lawyer and poet who was blind.Frances E. Willard, Mary A. Livermore (eds) "Lillian (sic) Blanche Fearing", ''Woman of the Century'' 1893

Life

Fearing was born in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

in 1863. She lost her sight as the result of an accident whilst playing with other children when she was five or six. She was taught in college in Vinton, Iowa until 1884. Four years later she moved to Chicago to study at the

Union College of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, ...

and graduated in 1890. Her sister and mother served as her

amanuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...

while she learned, and she became a leading pupil and she also started to write poetry. She was one of four students who shared the scholarship prize when they graduated in 1890. She was the only woman studying law in her year. She was admitted to the Illinois Bar at Springfield and was able to practice law from her office in Chicago. She died in Eureka Springs, Arkansas on August 13, 1900, after a long illness. Her final book, ''Mildred'', was published the following year.

Works

* '' The Sleeping World, and other Poems'' (Chicago, 1887) * '' In the City by the Lake'' (Chicago, 1893). * ''Roberta'' (1894) * ''Mildred'' (Chicago, 1901)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fearing, Lillien Blanche 1863 births 1900 deaths People from Davenport, Iowa Blind writers 19th-century American poets American women poets 19th-century American women writers Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century 19th-century American women lawyers 19th-century American lawyers Blind lawyers American lawyers with disabilities American blind people Blind poets American writers with disabilities