Margaret Hope Bacon


Margaret Hope Bacon was an American Quaker historian, author and lecturer. She is primarily known for her biographies and works involving Quaker women’s history and the abolitionist movement. Her most famous book is her biography of Lucretia Mott, Valiant Friend, published in 1980.

Biography

Mrs. Bacon spent her early childhood in New York City and moved to Florida as an adolescent. She went to Antioch College, where she met her husband, Allen Bacon. During World War II, she accompanied her husband to work at Springfield Hospital in Sykesville, Maryland as his assignment for conscientious objector status. She also worked at the American Friends Service Committee for many years and was the inspiration for the rehabilitation of the Fair Hill Burial Ground, a historic Quaker cemetery in North Philadelphia and the final resting place of abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Robert Purvis. Mrs. Bacon authored biographies of both Mott and Purvis. A longtime trustee and Vice President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, she wrote a feature article titled "The Pennsylvania Abolition Society's Mission for Black Education" for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's November 2005 newsletter. She was a founding board member of Women's Way, the country’s oldest and largest funding federation for women’s organizations. Bacon died at her home at Crosslands in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania on February 24, 2011.

Awards

Non-fiction