Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American writer who became famous for the novel Little Women, published in 1868 and based on memories of her own upbringing alongside her three sisters.

The future writer was born into a close-knit but poor family. Her father, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), was the son of a poor farmer. As a child he taught himself to read and write, and then, through persistent self-education, became one of the most learned men and philosophers of his time. A fervent follower of Transcendentalism and a friend and admirer of Emerson and Thoreau, he was an innovator in education and the founder of a number of schools in Concord and Pennsylvania, as well as in Boston. In his teaching he tried to put into practice the idea of self-education through independent analysis. In his schools, the teacher’s role was reduced to advising students, while the curriculum included not only general academic subjects but also drawing, music, the study of nature, and physical education. Not all of his students’ parents understood and accepted his progressive ideas, so the schools he founded were often closed, and the family was forced to move to a new place. (Over thirty years the Alcotts moved about 20 times.) Later his ideas gained recognition, and from 1859 to 1864 he worked as a school inspector in Concord. In 1879 he founded a summer school of philosophy for adults in Concord, which operated for nine years until his death in 1888.

Louisa’s mother, Abigail May Alcott (1800–1877), came from a distinguished New England family. Managing the household and raising four daughters required much time and energy, but despite this Abigail, a progressive-minded woman and a proponent of the practical application of Christian virtues, constantly devoted attention to charity, actively helped the poor, supported the abolition of slavery, backed the women’s rights movement, and took part in the temperance campaigns of the period. She became the first paid social worker in Massachusetts.

Louisa May Alcott was the second of four daughters. The Alcott family came from New England, but Louisa was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the girl was two years old, the family moved to Boston, where Amos Bronson Alcott founded an experimental school and joined the Trans