If We Are Brave Enough to Accept: Taking on the Challenges of Lydia Maria Child Today

• Published in: Legacy (Amherst, Mass.) Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 29 - 32
• Main Author: Nelson, Dana D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 01.01.2017
• Subjects: American literature; Authorship; Child, Lydia Maria Francis (1802-1880); Children; Creativity; Ecocriticism; Forum; Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864); Literary canon; Literary devices; Narrative techniques; Political activism; Readers; Social justice; Society; Writers; United States > US
• ISSN: 0748-4321; 1534-0643
• DOI: 10.5250/legacy.34.1.0029

Inspired by Lydia Maria Child's activism, Sarah Olivier has crafted a society that "supports the pursuit of social justice and inclusive excellence through education, academic scholarship, creative projects, and social action" ("Constitution and By- Laws"). To facilitate that vision, the by- laws mandate that there be a vice president of Inclusive Excellence and Social Action, who shall create and organize programs and initiatives that are rooted in principles of social justice and equality with the assistance of the Executive Board; shall provide guidance to the Executive Board on creating and maintaining exemplary standards of inclusive excellence in membership, programming, and operations; shall advise in the creation of culturally diverse panel topics and selections for conferences; and shall lead in the development of social action initiatives that are feasible for the lmcs to undertake. In this way (and in her dissertation too, readers should note), Olivier offers a vision that counters Lauren Berlant's famous qualification of writers like Child and Stowe, whose work has long been dismissed first as "sentimental" and (à la Berlant) as aiming its vision narrowly only at "changing hearts" rather than changing the world (Berlant 645).1 Olivier has organized a society that honors Child's efforts to galvanize...