---
title: 'Charlotte F. Grimké on the Blues'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2024-11-02
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2024-charlotte-f-grimke-on-the-blues
---

# Charlotte F. Grimké on the Blues

“Nearly everybody was looking gay and happy; and yet I came home \[from church\] with the blues. Threw myself on the bed, and for the first time since I have been here, felt very lonely and pitied myself. But I have reasoned myself into amore sensible mood and am better now.” — [**Charlotte F. Grimké**](/authors/charlotte-louise-bridges-forten-grimk), Journal entry for December 14, 1862

“Charlotte Forten’s entry is one of the first recorded references to ‘the blues’ as a state of mind.” — Paul Oliver, *The Story of the Blues* (1969, 1997), p. 5