Louisa May Alcott

Born in 1832, Louisa May Alcott was the child of parents who were prominent in the Transcendentalist movement. Her father, Bronson Alcott, is often referred to as the father of modern education in the United States. In spite of his brilliance, he was terrible with money, and the Alcotts were plagued with a poverty that was far less pleasant than the pious poverty enjoyed by the March family. Louisa was forced to begin working at an early age in order to keep her family from the brink of starvation. Like Jo, Alcott harbored literary ambitions and took to writing pulp fiction in order to support her family. She went on to become a writer for the Atlantic Monthly and saw her first real success with the publication of a collection of her articles, 1863’s Hospital Sketches. Alcott secured her literary fame with the publication of the first installment of Little Women in 1868. Alcott was a staunch abolitionist, feminist, and spinster up until her death in 1888.