Rebecca Harding Davis

Biography

Rebecca Harding Davis earned distinction as a writer whose novels and essays revealed the lives of working people with rare empathy and precision. Her early work, including the influential story “Life in the Iron Mills,” helped usher in a new realism in American literature that honored the dignity of overlooked voices.

Beyond her writing, she championed the cause of women’s intellectual independence and inspired a generation to pursue honest storytelling. Her legacy endures through every reader who discovers humanity in the lives she illuminated.