Cause of death Meningitis Spouse H. L. Mencken | Name Sara Haardt Books Southern souvenirs Role Author | |
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Full Name Sara Powell Haardt Occupation Novelist, professor, writer Died May 31, 1935, Balti, Maryland, United States | ||
Sara Haardt (March 1, 1898 – May 31, 1935) was an American author and professor of English literature. Though she died at the age of 37 of meningitis, she produced a considerable body of work including newspaper reviews, articles, essays, a novel The Making of a Lady, several screenplays and over 50 short stories. She is central to John Barton Wolgamot's notorious book-length poem, "In Sara Mencken, Christ and Beethoveen there were men and women" (1944), recorded by the composer Robert Ashley.
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Early life and education
Sara Powell Haardt was born March 1, 1898, to Venetia Hall Haardt and German American John Anton Haardt in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five children. She attended the Margaret Booth School. In 1920, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. While still an undergraduate at Goucher, she had become a professional writer, writing for literary reviews and popular periodicals.
Career
When she graduated, she was immediately hired to teach at Goucher College in the English Department.
She became the head of the Alabama branch of the National Woman's Party, where she led the fight to have the Alabama Legislature ratify the 19th Amendment.
While teaching at Goucher College, she met H. L. Mencken in 1923. Despite his widely known opposition to the institution of marriage, and his criticism of suffragettes, they married in 1930.
Her short story "Absolutely Perfect" won her a nomination for the O. Henry Prize in 1933.
Death
She died in 1935 from meningitis. Her death was the result of complications of tuberculosis, from which she had suffered for many years.