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About Diane
Eickhoff
Author of
Revolutionary Heart:
The Life of Clarina Nichols and the
Pioneering
Crusade for Women’s Rights |
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Diane Eickhoff was doing research
for a book about the Underground Railroad in Kansas at the Wyandotte
County Museum when she came upon Clarina Nichols’s activism to free
slaves, her fight for women’s rights and temperance, during the
tumultuous period called Bleeding Kansas. “I decided to plunge into
writing Clarina Nichols’s biography. I’ve worked as an editor in the
educational publishing field for years and have been struck by the
dearth of quality historical biographies written about women and the
scant coverage given to one of the greatest social reform movements
in history—the 19th century women’s rights movement,” Ms. Eickhoff
recounts.
Discovering that there were no biographies of Nichols, Ms Eickhoff
devoted six years to unearthing the 19th century rights activist’s
life through writings and historical accounts to write
Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering
Crusade for Women’s Rights. In 2004, the Kansas Humanities
Council announced that Clarina Nichols had been chosen as one of six
historical characters (and the only female) to be represented in a
state-wide “History Alive!” chautauqua commemorating the 150th
anniversary of the opening of Kansas Territory. Ms Eickhoff
immediately applied to play the role, and in June 2004 toured Kansas
performing as Clarina Nichols
Donning period clothing and a wig coiffed in the style of the age,
Ms. Eickhoff took to the chautauqua stage, performing a
thirty-minute monologue. Of her presentation, she says that “ninety
percent of the dialogue is [Clarina Nichols’s] words, sentences and
phrases gleaned from her speeches and writings that I have strung
together in a narrative.” The highlight of the statewide tour was in
Lawrence, where Ms Eickhoff met with Mrs. Nichols’s
great-great-great granddaughter, Janice Parker, who had flown all
the way from Texas. She brought along Mrs. Nichols’s special brooch,
(which she is pictured wearing on the cover of Revolutionary Heart),
so that Ms. Eickhoff could wear it at the event (pictured below).
 Diane
Eickhoff spent more than two decades as a freelance writer placing
articles in such publications as McCall’s, The Lutheran, Hartford
Times and Kansas City Star. As Diane Carlson she won three awards
from the Educational Press Association of America. Ms. Eickhoff has
written several books of Young Adult fiction, and edited textbooks
for middle and high school students. She taught school in Appalachia
and New York.
Ms Eickhoff continues to do presentations in character at
chautauquas and gatherings of historical interest. Her next projects
are an audio book version of the Clarina Nichols story for the Young
Adult market, entitled Frontier Freedom Fighter, will be released
March 2006, and a DVD “Recovering Clarina Nichols” will be released
Summer 2007 by Quindaro Press.
Revolutionary Heart: The Life
of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women’s Rights
On sale March 15, 2006. Now taking pre-orders!
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