Howe was an accomplished poet and essayist. She is best remembered as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, popularly known as the Union Army’s Civil War anthem. Howe used her privileged social standing to pursue social justice initiatives. She promoted clean hospitals for Civil War soldiers, advocated for women’s voting rights, wrote for an abolitionist journal, and participated in the Women’s International Peace Association. This portrait shows the author’s resolve, evident in her writings that critique the societal limits imposed on women. Despite her difficult marriage to fellow social reformer Samuel Gridley Howe, who preferred his wife stay home rather than pursue a public life, she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1908.