Without Elizabeth Peabody, Worcester State University might not exist – and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Megan Marshall is coming to campus on Friday, Sept. 25, to explain why.
Marshall will deliver a talk, titled “Why We Need Hero(ines): The Power of Biography,” about the transformative power of non-fiction storytelling at 12:30 p.m. in the Blue Lounge of the Student Center. Free and open to the public, the lecture kicks off Homecoming and Family Weekend, marking a homecoming of sorts for her historical subjects, many of whom share deep connections with the City of Worcester and the university itself.
In her talk, Marshall – author of The Peabody Sisters, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, and Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast – plans to challenge traditional notions of who qualifies as a historical “hero.” “When you read about a president or a general, you are reading mostly about their public actions,” Marshall said, in a recent phone interview. “To read and write about women’s lives brings the writer and the reader closer to what I think of as everyday heroism. A subject doesn’t necessarily have to be in an elevated position to be of interest.”
For Marshall, looking at the choices women made within the constrained circumstances of the 19th century – when they were largely barred from higher education and public careers – reveals a quiet fighting spirit that reshaped American culture.
Among the central figures in Marshall’s work are the Peabody sisters, three trailblazers who stood at the heart of the New England Transcendentalist movement alongside Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
One sister, Mary, married Horace Mann, the pioneer of American public education. However, Mann’s celebrated educational crusade was heavily influenced – and largely sparked – by the eldest sister, Elizabeth Peabody.
After Mann lost his first wife, he moved into a Boston boarding house where the sisters lived. Elizabeth pushed the grieving politician back into public life and encouraged him with ideas on sweeping educational reform. She strongly advocated that teaching should be a professionalized, state-supported career – particularly for women. Her influence directly persuaded Horace Mann to champion the Massachusetts State Board of Education’s creation of public normal schools, laying the foundation for schools like Worcester State.
“Horace Mann’s role as an educator was really the result of the influence of the Peabody sisters on his life,” Marshall said. “There might not even be a Worcester State without Elizabeth Peabody,” she noted, highlighting how Peabody’s advocacy set off a chain reaction that established public teacher-training institutions across Massachusetts.
Marshall’s visit also will touch upon another local connection through her biography of acclaimed poet Elizabeth Bishop, who was born in Worcester and is buried in the city’s Hope Cemetery.
Drawing on her decades of experience as a professor at Emerson College, Marshall also plans to share key insights with aspiring writers in attendance. While students are often advised to “write what you know,” Marshall advocates for looking beyond oneself. “I think there is almost a sacred duty to try to understand other people,” Marshall said. “Your own limited experience can be opened much wider if you have a sense of the times and the issues of the era, rather than just a myopic focus on your own challenges and struggles.”
As the university community gathers for Homecoming, Marshall said she hopes her message offers encouragement for navigating modern challenges. Noting that Transcendentalism was born during a period when thinkers struggled against forces of conformity, she emphasizes that liberation movements often emerge from times of repression.
“In all the decisions we make, there is the opportunity to challenge yourself, your times, or your circumstances,” Marshall said. “Plant your feet in the world and walk your steps.”
