Ida C. Craddock

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Authors, Spiritualism, Women's Rights
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In honor of Banned Books Week, I am sharing more about Ida Craddock , the heroine of my novel Censored Angel. Bright and studious, Ida was an unlikely woman to become the enemy of Anthony Comstock. Upon rejection from the University of Pennsylvania, she decided to carry out her own research. She chose as her topic Female Sex Worship, motivated by the question of why there were no women ministers. This research and the pain and abuse women at the time experienced in their marriages, led her to write, lecture, and distribute a series of sex education pamphlets, intended to help men and women experienceRead More →

Jane Grey Swisshelm

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Activists, Authors, Civil War, Journalists, Women's Rights, Writing

JANE GREY SWISSHELM (December 6, 1815 -July 22, 1884) was a journalist, abolitionist, publisher, and advocate for women’s rights. Early Life Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, she was raised by her widowed mother. Bright and energetic, she began as a teacher, but was drawn to journalism. After a difficult marriage to a farmer and a subsequent divorce, she moved to Minnesota and became editor and publisher of the St. Cloud Visiter. She was outspoken in her support of abolition, women’s rights, and against capital punishment. She was known to be full of righteous fury. For example, she hounded a Southerner who had moved to Minnesota withRead More →

Dr. Anna Elizabeth Broomall

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Medicine, Motherhood, Women's Rights

Anna Elizabeth Broomall (1847-1913) suffered name-calling, spit wads, and the anger of fellow male students in her battle to become a renowned physician of obstetrics. Anna Broomall was born in Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania to a well-to-do Quaker family. Her mother died in her infancy, and Broomall was raised by an aunt and uncle. Her father, John Broomall, a successful lawyer, and later U.S. Congressman, sent her to private academies in the area. She, at first, wanted to become a lawyer, but no opportunities existed at the time to study law. Instead, she decided to become a doctor. Her father, a supporter of women’s rights, encouragedRead More →

Alice Moore Hubbard

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In: 20th Century Women, Activists, Women's Rights

A bold feminist, suffragette, and writer, Alice Moore Hubbard (1861 – 1915) considered herself one of the “New Women” at the turn of the century. Early Life Born on a small farm in Wales, New York, Alice Hubbard desperately wanted to be a teacher. Through effort and economizing, she attended the State Normal School in Buffalo, New York, followed by the New Thought Emerson College of Oratory in Boston. Following her graduation she taught at East Aurora College in New York. In 1885, Elbert Hubbard founded the William-Morris-inspired Roycraft, an Arts and Crafts community and publishing company, in East Aurora, where Alice met him. TheRead More →

Nannie Helen Burroughs

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In: 20th Century Women, Activists, Education, Women's Rights

Nannie Helen Burroughs (May 2, 1879 – May 20, 1961) was an educator, public speaker, and civil rights activist. Early Life Raised by her widowed mother, she grew up in Washington D.C. where she attended the M Street High School along with Anna J. Cooper and Mary Church Terrell. She graduated with honors in 1886 and applied to teach in the District of Columbia public schools. However, she was rejected because of her dark skin color. From 1898-1909, she worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for the Foreign Mission Board of the Baptist Convention. While there, she founded the Women’s Convention where she served asRead More →

Harriet Martineau

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Activists, Authors, Education, Journalists, Women's Rights

Meet the woman who sold more novels than Charles Dickens. Harriet Martineau (1802 – 1876) was a British novelist, feminist, abolitionist, philosopher, travel writer, journalist, and more. She is considered the first female sociologist. Martineau struggled with ill health all her life. She had no sense of taste or smell and became partially deaf starting at age twelve. In her forties, she developed a uterine tumor that affected her for many years of her life. Nevertheless, she traveled widely and wrote extensively for over seventy-years, with major journeys to the United States and to Egypt and the Middle East. As girl, her mother tried toRead More →

The Westbrook Drives

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Authors, Medicine

Henrietta Payne Westbrook (1834-1909) was a physician, reporter ,and author, who was also a close friend and early supporter of Ida Craddock, the heroine of my new novel Censored Angel: Anthony Comstock’s Nemesis. A believer in the right of a woman to choose her own husband, she was the free-love wife of the American secular advocate, Richard Brodhead Westbrook, a former minister, and later a lawyer and judge in Philadelphia. (Note: In a free-love marriage a couple choose to live as a married couple without benefit of a marriage license. For a definition see Free Love.) In 1880, Henrietta Westbrook graduated from Women’s Medical CollegeRead More →

Ida C. Craddock

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Authors, Education, Motherhood, Spiritualism, Women's Rights

Ida Celenire Craddock (1857-1902) was born into a world where middle class women were expected to have little ambition, dutifully marry, and keep their mouths closed about sex. Brilliant and constrained by a domineering mother, Ida wanted more from life. She wanted a career, and she wanted to be heard. So, she left home to teach stenography at Girard College, a school for orphaned boys and write stenography textbooks. She also applied to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences. In 1882, she passed the exams and was accepted by the faculty to be the first female undergraduate, but her application was rejectedRead More →

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Activists, Civil War, Women's Rights, Writing

Anna Dickinson (1842-1932) was a major celebrity of her time. She drew crowds of thousands, headlined newspapers, and consorted with the major figures of the day. For an ordinary girl from a nondescript family, this was a heady experience, especially since she found this fame at a young age. She was only sixteen when newspapers started taking notice of her. Early readers of my forthcoming novel have said the character of Anna is arrogant and hard to like. And she is. As a writer, I felt that this was the truest way to represent her personality and explain the choices she made. My characterization ofRead More →

Anna Dickinson

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In: 19th Century Women, Abolition, Activists, Civil War, Women's Rights

Once upon a time, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842 to 1932) was one of the most well-known women in America. She was an intrepid abolitionist and believer in women’s rights. During the Civil War, she gave rousing anti-slavery speeches and was hired by the Republican party to campaign on behalf of their candidates, something unheard of for a woman of her time. The spectacle of a diminutive girl spouting fiery words drew large crowds. The newspapers called her America’s Shining Star, the Woman of the Hour, and America’s Joan of Arc. Today, she is forgotten. My upcoming novel That Dickinson Girl tells the fictionalized story ofRead More →