Revitalizing UU Women's Groups

Twenty-one Notable UU Women

Abigail Adams (1744–1818)
First lady of the second president of the U.S., Adams appealed to her husband, John Adams, for equal rights for women in a letter in 1777. Abigail wrote these often repeated words: “In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power in the hands of the husbands. Remember that all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

Louisa Alcott (1832–1888)
Author of one of the best-loved girls’ stories of all time, Little Women, Alcott also authored Little Men and Hospital Sketches. Little Women, published in 1869, gave girls a new role model; the book’s main character, Jo, is independent and energetic. Before 1869, children’s books had been notoriously didactic and moralistic. In addition to writing, Alcott also worked for women’s right to vote, served as a nurse during the Civil War, and as a teacher.

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
A lifelong friend of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s from 1851, Anthony was an important leader in the women’s suffrage and women’s rights movements. In 1869, Anthony urged women to “Join the union, girls, and together say equal pay for equal work.” The U.S. government in 1963 finally passed the Equal Pay Act. Anthony was arrested in the 1872 presidential election for trying to vote. With Stanton, Anthony published “The Revolution,” a newspaper about women’s rights. The two women also co-authored the first three of six volumes of the series History of Woman Suffrage. Anthony was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1950.

Clara Barton (1821–1912)
Because of her tireless efforts to help wounded soldiers during the Civil War, Barton is perhaps the most remembered nurse. She founded the Red Cross and when the war was over, went on to organize search efforts to find missing soldiers. She opened hospitals in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War (1869–1873). Before turning to nursing, Barton worked as a teacher and started one of the first public schools in New Jersey. When the school expanded and Barton was passed over as headmaster and a less qualified man was hired for the job, Barton resigned in protest.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910)
First denied admission by twenty-nine colleges, Blackwell was finally admitted to medical school as a joke. When she finally began practicing medicine, she was refused hospital and office spaces in New York City and scoffed at by strangers. She is best known as the first female physician in the U.S. In 1868, she opened the Women’s Medical College in New York City in an effort to improve the training of female physicians.

Olympia Brown (1835–1926)
A Universalist minister, Brown is best known for being the first female ordained minister of any denomination in the U.S. In addition, she was a reformer on women’s issues from 1866 to 1926. She served as president of the Federal Suffrage Association from 1903–1920.

Lydia Marie Child (1802–1880)
An abolitionist, Child was among those leading the fight against slavery. Her writings became controversial in 1831 for her views in favor of abolishing slavery. An author of more than two dozen books, including An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans, a book against slavery, Child wrote the Thanksgiving song, “Over the River and Through the Woods,” during a lean period when her work was rejected due to its political slant. The song remains popular to this day and has touched nearly every American.

Dorothea Dix (1802–1887)
First a teacher, Dix left her job and began advocating for the mentally ill after visiting almshouses and prisons and seeing the appalling conditions. She spent two years touring Massachusetts institutions and used a scientific approach to report on their conditions to the state legislature and to call for reform measures. She continued her efforts in twenty other U.S. states and in Canada and also had an influence on European countries. She urged the establishment of institutions for the poor and mentally ill who had formerly been treated as criminals.

Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857–1915)
Farmer is best known for her famous cookbook, Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, published in 1896. She was a pioneer in the field of dietetics and health, and the “mother of the level measurement.” Farmer provided guidance to hospitals and other institutions.

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)
Considered one of the great thinkers of her time, Fuller was a leader in the Transcendentalist movement and also discussed women’s place in society in her book, Women in the Nineteenth Century. Ideas in her book, favoring women’s rights and equality of the sexes, influenced organizers of the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls. In 1839, she launched “conversations,” a series of weekly seminars for women. Disregarding a ban on paid female public speakers, Fuller drew Boston’s best female leaders to her lectures on science, art, ethics, and mythology. She became a renowned literary critic and also worked as a foreign correspondent; she became involved in the Italian Revolution in 1847.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)
An African American born in 1825 to free parents, Harper was later orphaned. Her formal education ended at age thirteen when she took a job as a nursemaid. Nevertheless, Harper began publishing poetry while still a teenager. Considered the most popular poet of her time, she published Autumn Leaves, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects. Her poetry reflects her experiences as an African American and her views on slavery, women’s rights, and other social problems of her time.

Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910)
Best known for writing the song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” during the Civil War, Howe was an author and reformer. She helped found the National Woman Suffrage Association with Lucy Stone and Mary Livermore. A peace activist, Howe led the U.S. wing of the Woman’s International Peace Association. She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Mary A. Rice Livermore (1820–1905)
A dedicated abolitionist, Livermore co-chaired the Civil War Army’s Sanitary Commission. She formed more than three thousand local units to provide soldiers with food, medicine, and other supplies. She was the founding president of the Illinois Suffrage Association, published the Agitator, and formed the National Woman Suffrage Association along with Julia Howe and Lucy Stone.

Maria Mitchell (1818–1889)
An astronomer, Mitchell was the most famous 19th century female scientist. At age twenty-nine she discovered a new comet and also led the way in photographing stars. She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences and became a professor at Vassar College. Mitchell was one of the first women chosen for the Hall of Fame.

Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820)
An essayist and a feminist theorist (her pseudonym was Constantia). In the 18th century, when it was assumed that the female mind was deficient, Murray had the spunk that must have seemed like audacity at the time, to question this premise. Murray was married to John Murray, who started the first Unitarian church in the U.S.

Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894)
During a time when women were not expected to engage in public speaking, Peabody gave lectures in her home about American history. Along with Margaret Fuller, she was a charter member of the Transcendentalist Club; she published writings about transcendentalism and also about the abolition of slavery. She is known for her ideas stressing early childhood education and kindergarten.

Lydia E. Pinkham (1819–1883)
Known as an inventor and an innovative businesswoman, who utilized marketing techniques, Pinkham patented a vegetable compound for curing women’s complaints. Three spoonfuls a day were recommended for most problems, including a painful menstrual cycle. The tonic probably did help ease the pain for women since it was 18% alcohol. By 1925, Pinkham’s company had made four million dollars selling the product. Pinkham was also a charter member of the Lynn Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

Beatrice Potter (1866–1943)
This English author wrote a series of books that began with the book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a book so popular that six million copies of it have been sold. Early in life, Potter began carefully observing and drawing animals. This early practice and talent led to her early success. A lesser-known fact about Potter is that she became an expert in the study of mushrooms during her lifetime.

May Sarton (1912–1995)
A poet, novelist of over fifty books, and also a playwright, Sarton immigrated to the United States from Belgium in 1912 when she was four. She was a natural writer who published her first poems at age seventeen. Before she died, in 1995, Sarton was granted seventeen honorary doctorate degrees across the U.S. and taught and spoke at universities all across the country.

Lucy Stone (1818–1893)
An outspoken abolitionist, Stone attended Oberlin College where she was asked to write the graduation speech for her class. When she learned that it was intended to be read by a man, she refused. An excellent lecturer, she spoke out about women’s rights, dress reform, and slavery. She worked for the Anti-slavery Society and was ex-communicated by the Congregational church for her interpretations and translations of the Bible. With Mary Livermore and Julie Howe, Stone helped to found the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
As a child in England, she witnessed her mother being abused by her father who abused alcohol. She later assisted her sister in escaping a marriage similar to their parents’ and she had a lover who abandoned her after the birth of their child; in response, she attempted suicide. She later became the mistress of William Godwin and married him only after becoming pregnant, though both kept their own abodes. The pregnancy led to Wollstonecraft’s death at thirty-eight from complications of childbirth. Her daughter, however, survived and became the writer, Mary Shelley who authored Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft was the author of the famous Vindication of the rights of Woman, 1792.