By 1879 Hopkins and her family created the Hopkins Colored Troubadours, a musical troupe that accompanied her on national tours where she starred in musical dramas including ones she wrote. Two years later, in 1877, Hopkins was selected to be the lead actress in the stage production of Pauline or The Belle of Saratoga. Hopkins won the competition and the ten-dollar prize for her essay “Evils of Intemperance and Their Remedies.”Īt the age of 16, Hopkins began her career as a stage performer debuting with the Progressive Musical Union, a Boston choral group. At the time, Brown was considered the nation’s premier black novelist. While at Girls High School, Hopkins, then 15, entered into an essay competition for African American students that was hosted by William Wells Brown. While in Boston, Hopkins attended Girls High School, which was a leading secondary institution in the region and whose graduates entered prestigious colleges and universities across the nation. Hopkins later adopted her mother’s maiden name as a pen-name for her many published works. Hopkins, (formally Allen) was a native of the greater Boston area. Hopkins’s father, Northrop Hopkins, a Civil War veteran and member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), was born in Alexandria, Virginia. Hopkins was born to free parents of color who raised her in Maine for a short period before moving to Boston, Massachusetts. Late 19th and early 20th century African American playwright, novelist, and columnist Pauline Hopkins was born in Portland, Maine in 1859.
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