| Henrietta Buckmaster | |
| Birth Name: | Henrietta Delancey Henkle |
| Birth Date: | 10 March 1909 |
| Birth Place: | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Henrietta Henkle Stephens |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Notable Works: | Let My People Go Deep River[1] |
| Spouse: | Peter John Stephens |
Henrietta Delancey Henkle (March 10, 1909 – April 26, 1983), better known by her pen name Henrietta Buckmaster, was an activist, journalist, and author best known for writing historical studies and novels.[2] She was also active in the civil rights movement.
Buckmaster was born in Cleveland, Ohio[3] in 1909 to editor Rae D. Henkle and Pearl (Wintermute) Henkle and grew up in New York City. She attended Friends Seminary and the Brearley School.[2]
Buckmaster became a journalist and author focusing on historical books and novels, as well as being a book reviewer for some time. A major theme of her books was human freedom, and her subjects were often American slaves and women.[2] In 1944 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, for which she received a sponsorship from W.E.B. Du Bois.[4] Her most well known book, Let My People Go, focused on the Underground Railroad and the Abolition movement.[5] Her writing was praised for "without departing from fact" being "as dramatic as it is informative."[6] She combined scholarship with the "concern of the civil libertarian."[2]
Buckmaster was also involved in the civil-rights movement, as well as fighting for the rights of American Indians and prisoners.[7] She played a role as one of the leaders of The Committee for Equal Justice.[8]
She was briefly married to Peter John Stephens, and wrote under the name Henrietta Henkle Stephens. She died in 1983 after a short illness at 74.[7]