May French Sheldon

Mary French Sheldon also known under the author's name May French Sheldon ( born May 10, 1847 in Beaver, Pennsylvania, † February 10, 1936 in London) was an American explorer and writer.

Life

Mary was the daughter of Joseph French, an engineer and mathematician, and Elizabeth Jane French born Poorman (1821-1900), one of the first practicing physicians in the U.S., was born. Mary studied medicine in Italy, but never practiced the profession. They turned instead ethnological and geographical studies and working as a translator and publisher ( Saxon and Company). Stimulated by the reports of their friend Henry Morton Stanley, it attracted Sheldon to East Africa. Against the opposition of the British authorities, but with the help of the Sultan of Zanzibar led Sheldon in 1891 as the first woman to a more than 100 -member expedition from Mombasa to the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. Their goal was to collect scientifically useful information about the various peoples of the area, especially on women and children. They dealt, inter alia, to with jewelery and ritual and everyday objects of women. They also made ​​on geological and geographical drawings and descriptions.

With great interest, they also devoted himself to the newly emerging medium of photography. Some pictures of the expedition are still preserved. Upon her return to England she wrote the travelogue Sultan to Sultan, which quickly became a bestseller.

However, their occurrence in partially extravagant ball gown and wig and influenced by colonial tastes travelogues can not hide their personal critical opinion against the official and sometimes brutal colonial conquest and politics. Because of her achievements as a geographer and geologist was admitted Mary French Sheldon as one of the first female Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.

In 1903 she took on a second trip to Africa, this time to the Belgian Congo. For their financial support of the Belgian Red Cross during the First World War, Mary French Sheldon was awarded the Chevalier de l' Ordre de la Couronne.

Sheldon was married since 1870 with the American lawyer and businessman Eli Lemon Sheldon ( 1849-1892 ).

Writings (selection )

Discount

Library of Congress ( Washington, D.C. )