The Heart And The Fountain

Originally Aired: April 28, 1941 Cavalcade of America #224, "The Heart And The Fountain," brings to life the remarkable story of Margaret Fuller, America's first woman foreign correspondent. The drama opens in 1835 with young Margaret, fevered and dreaming of death, confiding to her doctor her burning desire for freedom and intellectual life. Despite his warnings that the world will never accept a woman writer, Margaret is determined to join Ralph Waldo Emerson and the great minds at Brook Farm, convinced they will understand and support her ambitions. At Brook Farm, Margaret faces resistance even from progressive thinkers like Hawthorne and Thoreau, who question whether editing their journal "The Dial" is appropriate work for a woman. Though the transcendentalist community debates lofty philosophies, Margaret challenges them to move beyond isolated idealism and truly engage with humanity. When newspaper publisher Horace Greeley offers her a position as literary critic for the New York Tribune, Margaret seizes the opportunity to write under her own name. She soon pushes beyond literary criticism to champion the forgotten, visiting prisons and plague-ridden Blackwell's Island, risking her reputation and life to give voice to society's most desperate women.