October Lifelong Learning Women's Forum: The Letters of Hannah Whitman Heyde

In observance of domestic violence awareness month, our October session will peer into the life of Hannah Whitman Heyde (1823-1908), the younger sister of poet Walt Whitman. Hannah documented in letters to the Whitman family her lived experience of ongoing physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, well-known Vermont landscape artist Charles Louis Heyde (1820-1892).

Hannah was educated in Brooklyn, New York, and Hempstead, Long Island. Married at 29, she was characterized by Whitman scholars as a neurotic and hypochondriac – a narrative intentionally crafted by Charles himself. Hannah’s letters reveal a very different story, one that catalogs the emotional, verbal, and physical violence she experienced. Her correspondence gives us a deeper understanding of what would happen to women in the 19th century who were experiencing intimate partner violence.

Our guide through the experiences of Hannah Whitman Heyde will be author, Fulbright scholar, and the Blanche E. Seaver Chair of English Literature at Pepperdine, Dr. Maire Mullins. Dr. Mullins edited and annotated Hannah’s complete letters providing an important groundbreaking counternarrative insight into her life as a woman who endured and eventually survived domestic violence.

Dr. Mullins recently published, Hannah Whitman Heyde: The Complete Correspondence (Bucknell UP, 2021), a rare glimpse into the life of Walt Whitman’s sister through her letters to her family. Hannah was characterized by Whitman scholars as a neurotic and hypochondriac – a narrative intentionally crafted by her husband, well-known Vermont landscape artist Charles Louis Heyde (1820-1892). Hannah’s letters reveal a very different story, one that catalogs the emotional, verbal, and physical violence she experienced. Her correspondence gives us a deeper understanding of what would happen to women in the 19th century who were experiencing intimate partner violence.

Founded in 2014, the Lifelong Learning Women’s Forum is a private-invitation event, which exists to assist women in staying current on events and establishing sound, logical, and innovative positions related to issues that shape our world. 

This Forum is held on the second Thursday of each month. One topic is addressed from a scholarly viewpoint, with the majority of sessions being presented by Pepperdine faculty. Each one-hour lecture is followed by a thirty-minute question-and-answer portion. 

You can learn more about the Lifelong Learning Women's Forum (LLWF) here. 

In case you missed the forum, you can watch the recording below.