Biography
(1820-?)
Ann Plato was born sometime around 1820, and no one knows when she died. In fact, the only documented details of her life are that she wrote a book, titled Essays: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Poetry, and that the book was unpopular. Her work was composed in the vein of her Puritan upbringing, focusing on such cliché religious topics as benevolence, education, and employment. “Cliché” is also how most critics have categorized her writing, calling it unoriginal and morally idealistic. They have also taken issue with her omission of the topic of slavery–a subject popular among her better-known African-American contemporaries–though she briefly alluded to the West Indies once. That’s not to say she doesn’t have some legacy: a fellowship has been set up in her name to aide minority doctoral students at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
(Compiled by Kelly Monson)