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Best of 2007 Playwright Katherine Lee Bates by David Bianco
For many people in the United States, the song "America the Beautiful" captures the spirit of the country even better than the national anthem. It certainly is a lot easier to sing. On top of that, the lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, a Wellesley College professor who lived for 25 years as "one soul together" with another woman.
Born in Falmouth, Mass., in 1859, Bates was a precocious child who at the age of 9 already had strong likes and dislikes. "I like women better than men," the young girl wrote in her diary. "I like fat women better than lean ones." She also showed her early feminist proclivities: "Sewing is always expected of girls. Why not boys?"
After graduating from Wellesley College in 1885, Bates was invited to stay on and teach English. Pursuing a teaching career was one way that young, middle-class women at that time could become economically independent and remain unmarried if they so chose. In fact, Susan B. Anthony called the last years of the 19th century "the epoch of the single woman," because so many educated women opted not to marry men and instead partnered off with other women in romantic friendships.
In 1887, Bates met another young faculty member, Katharine Coman, who taught history and political economy and later founded the college's economics department. Their friendship grew slowly; it wasn't until 1890 that the two women considered themselves (and were considered by others) to be bound together in an intimate relationship. Their circle of friends included other female academic couples who lived together in "Wellesley marriages." | |
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