Five Tales of Christmas by Charles Dickens

Five Tales of Christmas by Charles Dickens

George Luther Stearns became John Brown's single most important financial backer. He personally owned the 200 Sharps rifles Brown brought to Harper's Ferry. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew asked Stearns to recruit the first northern state African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, recently made famous by the Hollywood movie Glory. Stearns was made a major and made Assistant Adjutant General for the Recruitment of Colored Troops. He recruited over 13,000 African-Americans, established schools for their children, and found work for their families. After Emancipation, he worked tirelessly for African-American civil rights. Friends and associates included the Emersons and the Alcotts, Thoreau, Lydia Maria Child, Charles Sumner, Andrew Johnson, and Frederick Douglass.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has been remembered in history as one of the greatest authors of the Victorian era. Not only having received tremendous success while he was alive, Charles Dickens' work continues to be read as voraciously as when it was first published. Because of his tremendous popularity, Charles Dickens has secured himself the position of not only being one of the greatest writers of his generation, but one of the most celebrated writers of all time. In addition to his writing, Charles Dickens was a prominent activist, dedicating much of his life to fighting for better social conditions for the poor as well as powerfully advocating for better laws to protect the rights of children. When a piece of literature refers to either unfair working and living conditions, or else portrays the state of a morally corrupt social class, the writing is thus referred to as Dickensian. Much of literary traditions thus owe their inspiration from the writing of Charles Dickens.