Corra May Harris
Encyclopedia
Corra Mae Harris an American
writer, was born Corra Mae White in Elbert County, Georgia
. Her formal education was limited to teacher training at nearby female academies, though she never graduated from any of the schools she attended. In 1887 she married Methodist minister and educator Lundy Howard Harris (1858–1910). They had one child survive to adulthood, a daughter she named Faith (1887–1919). For roughly two decades Harris struggled through various personal tragedies, including a troubled marriage; the loss through death of two infant sons; scandal and humiliation surrounding the abandonment, betrayal, and return of her husband in 1898 and his public confessions of adultery; the financial destitution resulting from the loss of his teaching position at Emory College; his suicide in 1910; her daughter’s death in 1919; and her sister’s death shortly after that. Harris remained a widow until her death 25 years after her husband’s. She outlived her daughter by 16 years.
Corra Harris was, for a time, the most widely-known woman from the state of Georgia. Her literary reputation during her life, and her legacy since, are connected with A Circuit Rider’s Wife published in 1910. Reputedly autobiographical, the novel is at most a spiritual autobiography, with little else that resembles her actual life. She wrote more than two dozen books, nineteen of which were published. Two were autobiographies, one a travel journal, and two became feature length movies, the best known was I’d Climb The Highest Mountain, released in 1951 and inspired by, A Circuit Rider’s Wife. She published over 200 articles and short stories, and well over a thousand book reviews. She was one of the first women war correspondent
s to go abroad in World War I. She lived the last two decades of her life at the place she named In the Valley in Bartow County, Georgia where she was living in 1935 when she died at the age of 65.
Although she became famous for her fiction, Harris's reputation for reactionary
conservatism lasted throughout her life and became part of her contradictory legacy. Such a reputation resulted in part from her first nationally published piece in 1899. After the lynching of Thomas Wilkes, alias Sam Hose
, near Newnan, Georgia
, William Hayes Ward
, editor-in-chief at the Independent, published an editorial denouncing the act. Harris wrote and the Independent published "A Southern Woman's View," a reply upholding the southern practice of lynching with reasoning anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Ida B. Wells
) called "threadbare", namely to protect innocent white women from malevolent black men. Editors at the Independent asked Harris for more, which launched her writing career. Afterward she wrote several non-fiction essays on southern identity that furthered conventional images of southerners during the first decade of the century. They also tied her reputation then and after to regional apologia (apologists), an image that belies the complexity of her body of work.
After A Circuit Rider's Wife was published in 1910, Harris wrote and published prolifically, both fiction and non-fiction, throughout the nineteen-teens. During the 1920s, her most successful works were two autobiographies published in the middle of the decade. By the early 1930s Harris's publishing was limited largely though not exclusively to the local. The last four years of her life, from 1931–1935, she published what critics have called some of her best writing in a tri-weekly "Candlelit Column" in the Atlanta Journal. Some critics have dismissed Harris's fiction as domestic or sentimental, but others find nuanced social and cultural critique in her works, especially of the South's gender and racial mores. Harris died in Atlanta February 7, 1935.
Harris's book-length publications:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, was born Corra Mae White in Elbert County, Georgia
Elbert County, Georgia
Elbert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was established on December 10, 1790 and was named for Samuel Elbert. As of 2000, the population was 20,511. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 20,525...
. Her formal education was limited to teacher training at nearby female academies, though she never graduated from any of the schools she attended. In 1887 she married Methodist minister and educator Lundy Howard Harris (1858–1910). They had one child survive to adulthood, a daughter she named Faith (1887–1919). For roughly two decades Harris struggled through various personal tragedies, including a troubled marriage; the loss through death of two infant sons; scandal and humiliation surrounding the abandonment, betrayal, and return of her husband in 1898 and his public confessions of adultery; the financial destitution resulting from the loss of his teaching position at Emory College; his suicide in 1910; her daughter’s death in 1919; and her sister’s death shortly after that. Harris remained a widow until her death 25 years after her husband’s. She outlived her daughter by 16 years.
Corra Harris was, for a time, the most widely-known woman from the state of Georgia. Her literary reputation during her life, and her legacy since, are connected with A Circuit Rider’s Wife published in 1910. Reputedly autobiographical, the novel is at most a spiritual autobiography, with little else that resembles her actual life. She wrote more than two dozen books, nineteen of which were published. Two were autobiographies, one a travel journal, and two became feature length movies, the best known was I’d Climb The Highest Mountain, released in 1951 and inspired by, A Circuit Rider’s Wife. She published over 200 articles and short stories, and well over a thousand book reviews. She was one of the first women war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
s to go abroad in World War I. She lived the last two decades of her life at the place she named In the Valley in Bartow County, Georgia where she was living in 1935 when she died at the age of 65.
Although she became famous for her fiction, Harris's reputation for reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
conservatism lasted throughout her life and became part of her contradictory legacy. Such a reputation resulted in part from her first nationally published piece in 1899. After the lynching of Thomas Wilkes, alias Sam Hose
Sam Hose
Sam Hose was an African American worker who was tortured and executed by a lynch mob in Coweta County, Georgia.Sam Hose, a.k.a. Sam Holt, was born Tom Wilkes in south Georgia near Marshallville around 1875. He grew up on a Macon County farm owned by the Jones family...
, near Newnan, Georgia
Newnan, Georgia
Newnan is a city in Coweta County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. The population was 16,242 at the 2000 Census. Newnan is one of the fastest growing cities in Georgia, with an estimated population of 27,097 in 2006 and 33,293 in July 2008...
, William Hayes Ward
William Hayes Ward
William Hayes Ward was an American clergyman, editor, and Orientalist, born at Abington, Mass.He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1852, Amherst College in 1856, and the Andover Theological Seminary in 1859. He served as pastor of a church at Oskaloosa, Kans. in 1859-60, and as...
, editor-in-chief at the Independent, published an editorial denouncing the act. Harris wrote and the Independent published "A Southern Woman's View," a reply upholding the southern practice of lynching with reasoning anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who...
) called "threadbare", namely to protect innocent white women from malevolent black men. Editors at the Independent asked Harris for more, which launched her writing career. Afterward she wrote several non-fiction essays on southern identity that furthered conventional images of southerners during the first decade of the century. They also tied her reputation then and after to regional apologia (apologists), an image that belies the complexity of her body of work.
After A Circuit Rider's Wife was published in 1910, Harris wrote and published prolifically, both fiction and non-fiction, throughout the nineteen-teens. During the 1920s, her most successful works were two autobiographies published in the middle of the decade. By the early 1930s Harris's publishing was limited largely though not exclusively to the local. The last four years of her life, from 1931–1935, she published what critics have called some of her best writing in a tri-weekly "Candlelit Column" in the Atlanta Journal. Some critics have dismissed Harris's fiction as domestic or sentimental, but others find nuanced social and cultural critique in her works, especially of the South's gender and racial mores. Harris died in Atlanta February 7, 1935.
Harris's book-length publications:
- The Jessica Letters (1904), in collaboration with Paul Elmer MorePaul Elmer MorePaul Elmer More was an American journalist, critic, essayist and Christian apologist.-Biography:More was educated at Washington University in St. Louis and Harvard University...
. - A Circuit Rider's Wife, (1910).
- Eve's Second Husband, (1910).
- The Recording Angel, (1912).
- In Search of a Husband, (1913).
- The Co-Citizens, (1915).
- Justice, (1915)
- A Circuit Rider's Widow, (1916).
- Making Her His Wife, (1918).
- From Sunup to Sundown, (1919).
- In Search of a Husband, (1919).
- Happily Married, (1920).
- My Son, (1921).
- The Eyes of Love, (1922).
- A Daughter of Adam, (1923).
- The House of Helen, (1923).
- My Book and My Heart, (1924).
- As a Woman Thinks, (1925).
- The Happy Pilgrimage, (1926).