Augusta Bender

Bender was born on a small village in Oberschefflenz to a marginalized family of peasants.[2]She had five siblings and was the youngest child.[4] Bender showed a keen interest in literature at a very young age and was considered a misfit in school. Her mother supported her passion nonetheless.[2]

Bender later made a decision not to get married and to make a living by her own which was unusual and surprising for women at the time. Bender was also a vegetarian and a staunch advocate of animal rights.[3]

At 16 years old, Bender left her hometown to further her education.[4] At 17, she first attempted to have her poetry published by submitting it at the local newspaper but got rejected.[1] She then dabbled in acting but soon gave in. She lived under a family of educators in Mosbach and decided to study education. In 1886 she finished training as a private tutor.

She then moved to Heidelberg and made a living as a teacher and travel companion for foreigners and soon was able to publish some of her poems. In 1871 she planned to move to the US but got ill and was therefore unable to. Throughout 1873 she was very active in delivering public lectures around Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Mannheim concerning women's rights.[2] She was heavily involved in spreading the feminist movement.[4][3]

In 1891, Bender landed a job as a professor in Northampton, Massachusetts. She eventually moved back to Germany to retire and devoted a majority of her time to writing.[1]

Bender conducted noteworthy research on German folk songs. Throughout her life she had written nursery rhymes, proverbs, poems and novels.[2][3]

Bender passed away on September 16, 1924 at a retirement home in Mosbach.[4][1]

• Rasche Entschlüsse (1868)
• Ein Bild aus der Wirklichkeit (1869–70)
• Ein dunkles Verhängnis (1869–70)
• Deutsche Liebe in Amerika (1882)
• Die Frauenfrage in Deutschland (1883)
• Mein Bruder (1883)
• Haideblumen (1887)
• Die Reiterkäthe: Heimatroman aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg (1893)
• A German Girl in America/Ein deutsches Mädchen in Amerika. (1893 in English) (1901 in German)
• Hausfreundin 1, 2 & 3 (1900–1903)
• Sorle, die Lumpenfrau (1901)
• Oberschefflenzer Volkslieder (1902)
• Das Spinnrad (1902)
• Der Kampf ums höhere Dasein (1907)
• Kulturbilder (1910)
• Die Macht des Mitleids (1905)
• Auf der Schattenseite des Lebens (1913–14)[5]