"Girl Orator"
Anna Dickinson was born on October 28, 1842, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents, John and Mary Dickinson’s ancestors were ardent Quakers and Abolitionists who had immigrated to the United States from England. She was the youngest of five children and the family home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. When she was only two years old, her father died leaving the family in abject poverty. Her mother took in boarders and opened a school in their home to help suppor