Rebecca Harding Davis was born on June 24, 1831. The events within her life led her to be more of an advocate for women's rights. Her father was a prominent businessman who 'considered women as little more than servants.' However, he was not a cruel man but was strict and thought of the world as vulgar. She was nurtured by her father and taught and educated by her mother who brought to her a love of books and reading. In her spare time she would be found in her backyard tree house reading books by Nathaniel Hawthorne and John Bunyan. When she was older she wished to attend college, but her father thought it as pointless and a waste of money to give a woman that type of education. "Rebecca eventually went to Washington Women’s Seminary in Washington, Pennsylvania, a school which trained women to become missionaries, pastor’s wives and teachers. During this time she studied the Bible intensively. Washington, Pennsylvania was also on the American lecture circuit, which meant that scholars and political thinkers regularly came to the city to lecture on abolitionism, human rights, women’s rights and the plight of immigrants. Couched within the ethical teachings of Christianity, Rebecca Harding Davis was challenged to explore ideas, read widely, and think for herself about social as well as religious issues. Judging from her later writings, it is likely that during this time in her life, Davis began to reach the conclusion that in order to be faithful to the ethical teachings of Christ, one should work for to bring justice to those who were suffering injustice."
This is where she began her search for equality. After graduation she returned home to her parents who were 'hostile' against her liberal ideas and assigned her the task of 'women's work' watching over her younger brothers and sisters.
"In her spare time, Rebecca tried to continue her education at home by studying her brother’s old college textbooks, but under the psychological pressure of her parent’s constant opposition and the chore of taking care of little children, she became deeply depressed. She felt that life had become a curse because she was unable to use anything that she had learned.[7] From the pit of this despair, she found strength to make a break from the bondage imposed upon her by her family and social class. Soon afterwards, she got a job writing for the local newspaper, the Wheeling Intelligencer.[8] This allowed her to get away from the oppressive influence of her family a few hours each day, and to make a little money. More importantly, during the twelve years that she worked the Intelligencer, Davis was able to hone her writing skills and witness the real life drama of people’s lives unfold in front of her eyes on a regular basis."
Around 1863 Rebecca married Lemuel Clarke Davis, 'an abolitionist writer for Peterson’s and admirer of her stories and novels.' They had two sons and one daughter. One of those sons, Richard Harding Davis, became a writer and journalist more famous than she.
Much of Rebecca Harding Davis' work focused on the search for equality for women. In her story Marcia, we see that the story line comes from her own experience with education and the hostility from her parents. "The call for equal opportunities in education for women is highlighted in Marcia. In it, a woman of great courage and creativity attempts to become a writer, but because she was denied the right to get a formal education, fails in her endeavor. Broken and desperate, she is eventually condemned to become the wife of an ignorant farmer. The need to free women who are locked in various forms of bondage is dealt with in Promise of the Dawn and In the Market. In Promise of the Dawn, we find a young homeless lady reaching out in desperation for someone to liberate her from the filth and moral decay of her environment. She eventually dies after being rejected by middle-class Christians who had the ability to help her. In the Market examines the effects of sexual discrimination and marriage upon 19th century American women. The story features the lives of two sisters. One marries for convenience, but after a short time of prosperity, ends up a defenseless and poor widow. The other sister delays marriage and after years of struggle and sacrifice, eventually becomes independent enough to marry for love and take care of her impoverished sister."
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