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Gilman, Charlotte Perkins

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on 3rd July 1860 in Connecticut. Her mother, Mary Perkins, was advised by a physician that she could die in childbirth if she went on to bear further children, and so Charlotte had only one other sibling, a brother named Thomas Adie who was just over a year older than herself. Charlotte faced poverty from an early age as a result of the abandonment of her family by her father Frederick Beecher Perkins in her infancy. This had not only a significant financial effect on the family but a severe emotional one too. Mary forbade her children to form emotional attachments to their peers or to read fiction with the hope of protecting them from the hurt she had experienced at the hands of her deserting husband. To a similar end, Mary avoided emotional expressions of affection towards her children; in her autobiography, Gilman recalls her mother only behaving lovingly towards her when she thought that her daughter was asleep. Charlotte found this approach very difficult and records her frequent attempts to remain awake but feign sleep in order to experience the affection that she so desired from her mother.

Her mother’s inability to financially support the family alone led to the frequent presence of Gilman’s paternal aunts, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catharine Beecher, in her childhood. Isabella was a suffragist, and so it is significant to note the active presence of disillusionment with the position of the female within contemporary society as part of Gilman’s childhood.

Despite her mother’s instructions regarding fiction, Gilman combated the loneliness and isolation of her childhood through frequent visits to the public library. She taught herself to read at the age of five when her mother was ill, and this was the beginning of a lifelong love of and interest in literature. Although she was a poor student at school, she had a striking natural intelligence and also a wide reach of knowledge gleaned

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1860

Charlotte was born

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on 3rd July 1860 in Connecticut. Her mother, Mary Perkins, was advised by a physician that she could die in childbirth if she went on to bear further children, and so Charlotte had only one other sibling, a brother named Thomas Adie who was just over a year older than herself.
1882

Met Charles Walter Stetson

After losing her closest friend, Martha, to a traditional marriage, Charlotte met artist Charles Walter Stetson and after two years of being pursued by him she reluctantly agreed to marry him in 1884, giving birth to their daughter Katherine Beecher Stetson the following year.
1887

Charlotte developed post-partum depression

Charlotte was predisposed to depression and experienced severe post-partum depression following the birth of her daughter.
1888

Separated from her husband

Charlotte and Katherine moved to California, where Charlotte became actively involved in various feminist organisations.
1890

Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper', along with many other works

1890 was arguably the most productive year of her career in literary terms; she wrote a novella, 15 essays and her famous short story, 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.

Read 'The Yellow Wallpaper' here

1892

'The Yellow Wallpaper' was printed in The New England Magazine

The short story was printed for the first time and became extremely popular with the contemporary feminist press.
1893

Mother died and Charlotte moved east

After her mother's death, Charlotte contacted her first cousin for the first time in over a decade, a Wall Street attorney named Houghton Gilman. They soon developed a close romantic relationship.
1894

Legally divorced Stetson

They legally divorced in 1894, and Stetson remarried. Their daughter Katherine went to live with her father and his new wife.
1900

Charlotte married her cousin Houghton Gilman

They wed in 1900 and remained happily married until Houghton's death in 1934.
1909–1916

Charlotte published her own magazine, The Forerunner

She single-handedly produced 86 issues over this time. Alongside serialised versions of her own fiction produced for the magazine, Perkins Gilman also featured other contemporary writers.
1932

Diagnosed with cancer

Charlotte was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.
1935

Commited suicide

Unwilling to let her body deteriorate slowly and painfully, she took her life into her own hands on 17th August 1935, committing suicide via an overdose of chloroform.

Visit her official website here