Elizabeth Edson Evans (1832-1911) was an artist and writer of poetry, fiction, and essays, who explored the possibility of spirituality beyond religious dogmatism in books like A History of Religions (1893). Evans married Edward Payson Evans, a professor of modern languages and German literature who worked with Ralph Waldo Emerson and wrote prolifically on the […]

Lecturer and Spiritualist minister Laura Cuppy Smith (fl. 1870s) emigrated from Britain to the U.S. at fourteen. When still a young mother, she was widowed by suicide. Nearly destitute, Smith moved with her children to San Francisco, where she organized numerous suffrage societies and helped present the first women’s suffrage petition to the California legislature. 

Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822-1907) went unrecognized as a feminist until long after her single book, Womanhood: Its Sanctities and Fidelities, appeared. While sisters Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catherine Esther Beecher gained notoriety authoring Uncle Tom’s Cabin and advocating women’s education, Hooker’s unwavering support of free speech earned her universal derision; she refused to denounce Woodhull

Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) and Tennessee Claflin were flamboyant sisters who rose from poverty to become Wall Street’s first female stockbrokers and major political provocateurs.  In 1871, Woodhull argued before Congress that voting rights recently extended to Black men must also apply to women.  In 1872, Woodhull became the first woman ever to run for president.