Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Thomas Wentworth Higginson 1823-1911, American author, b. Cambridge, Mass. A Unitarian minister, he was a leader in the abolitionist movement and was a member of a group that backed John Brown 's attack on Harper's Farry. His Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870), which recounts his experiences as colonel of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first black regiment in the Civil War, was the basis of the film Glory (1989). A versatile author and an able scholar, he wrote essays; popular histories; a novel, Malbone (1869); and biographies and reminiscences of political and literary friends. In 1890-91, with M. L. Todd, he edited the Poems of his friend Emily Dickinson . Higginson was also a supporter of female emancipation and education and a founder (1879) of Radcliffe College. A lifelong radical, in his old age (1906), Higginson joined with Jack London and Upton Sinclair to found the Intercollegiate Socialist Society.

Bibliography: See his Letters and Journals, 1846-1906 (1921); C. Looby, ed., The Complete Civil War Journal and Selected Letters of Thomas Wentworth Higginson (2000); H. N. Meyer, ed., The Magnificent Activist: The Writings of Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911) (2000); B. Wineapple, White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (2008); biographies by his wife, M. T. Higginson (1914, repr. 1972), and by H. N. Meyer (1967).

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth Storrow (1823–1911) US social reformer. A Unitarian minister, he worked for abolition of slavery and for women's rights. He was colonel of the first black regiment during the Civil War, an experience recorded in Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870). Higginson was a close friend of many writers, notably Emily Dickinson, and the biographer of other poets.

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (1823–1911) minister, reformer, and abolitionist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a Union officer, Higginson commanded the first federally authorized African-American regiment, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, made up of slaves freed by Union forces. Wentworth led his troops on skirmishing and raiding expeditions in Georgia and Florida, freeing, enlisting, and training former slaves. Though never engaged in a major battle, his regiment played a secondary role in the attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina (1863). A battle wound and malaria caused him to leave the army in the spring of 1864.

Higginson was a correspondent of Emily Dickinson (1830–86).