Graceanna Lewis

Graceanna Lewis (August 3, 1821 – February 25, 1912) was an American naturalist, illustrator, and social reformer. An expert in the field of ornithology, Lewis is remembered as a pioneer female American scientist as well as an activist in the anti-slavery, temperance, and women's suffrage movements.

Graceanna Lewis was born on August 3, 1821 on a farm near West Vincent Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. She was the second of four daughters of a Quaker farmer named John Lewis and his wife, the former Esther Fussell. Graceanna's ancestors included a friend of William Penn who had emigrated to the new Province of Pennsylvania from South Wales in 1682.

Graceanna's father died when she was only three years old, leaving her mother to raise her alone. Her mother had been a school teacher prior to marriage and was instrumental in developing a keen affection for science learning in Graceanna, as well as serving as a role model in social activism by housing fugitive slaves as part of the so-called Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada. Following her mother's death, Graceanna made her own home available for this purpose, secretly providing overnight accommodation for as many as 11 runaways slaves at one time.

Lewis attended the Kimberton Boarding School for Girls in neighboring Kimberton, Pennsylvania, at which she received instruction in many of the natural sciences, including astronomy, botany, chemistry, and zoology. Lewis also showed great aptitude as a painter of natural subjects. Following the completion of her studies in 1842, Lewis entered the teaching profession — one of the few fields of endeavor open to educated women in the day, taking a position as a teacher of botany and chemistry at a boarding school in York, Pennsylvania.

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