Born in Massachusetts in 1823, Higginson was a crusader for many causes, encouraged by his mother’s wish that he set himself "on a course that will lead to perfection." A boxer in his teens and a graduate of Harvard by 17 (he later returned for his graduate studies), Higginson dedicated his life to fighting for what he called a "Sisterhood of Reforms" that would enable America to live up to the promise of its principles. Though he was the descendant of New England’s first white settlers, he, as Egerton puts it, "cast his lot with the persecuted and oppressed." Along the way he interacted and often befriended his era’s most seminal figures. He mentored a young Emily Dickinson, sipped tea with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and maintained close ties with Mark Twain and Henry David Thoreau. He debated abolitionist strategies with Frederick Douglass, hosted Ralph Waldo Emerson, and had frequent dinners with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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