ABSTRACT
Freedom and education are motifs in each of Frances Harper's works, literally and figuratively. Harper's works center on women and the significant role they play in the home, community, and society. It is useful, therefore, to determine how the foremother-mulatta heroine relationship, coupled with the motifs of freedom and education, affects the home, community, and society of blacks in Harper's four novels. Three of these are rediscovered novels of which parts of the manuscripts were missing at the time of publication: Minnie's Sacrifice (1869), Sowing and Reaping: A Temperance Story (1876-77), and Trial and Triumph (1888-89). The fourth is her well-known last novel Iola Leroy or Shadows Uplifted (1892). A stark contrast between Harper's last novel and her earlier novels lies in characterization. Harper's last novel Iola Leroy inscribes color, physical, and language variations in characterization. Few such variations occur in Minnie's Sacrifice and Trial and Triumph, and no variations exist in Sowing and Reaping.
