Browse Items (16 total)

“The manufacturer has a vote; the bosses have votes; the foremen have votes, the inspectors have votes. The working girl has no vote.” - Clara Lemlich, 1912 White working women became suffragists in large numbers when they heard working women…

Activism needs resources. Wealthier women provided funding that working class suffragists needed: to print leaflets & posters, rent meeting halls, and most of all to pay salaries so activists could quit their factory jobs & organize…

If you were born rich and you know that’s not fair, what can you do? Jessie Ashley tried to use her advantages to make the world more just. Socialist, suffragist, lawyer, birth control advocate, “a valiant rebel” (Emma Goldman).🧵 Jessie’s…

Leonora O’Reilly had a hand in umpteen important organizations of the Progressive Era. She was a founder of the Consumers League, the Women’s Trade Union League, and the NAACP, to name a few. “Leonora O’Reilly attracted people like a…

FFwd to 1913: Post-Triangle Shirtwaist fire, safety laws finally pass. 1 bans women from night shifts➡️female printers, proofers @nytimes & other a.m. papers are axed. The NY Typographical Union won't help get their jobs back, so 3 women organize…

To ring in the Jewish new year, I’m highlighting 2 women whose impact on labor rights for all working people -esp. women- endures. Both fierce union organizers, suffragists, lesbians. Read @AnneliseOrleck1's profiles: Rose Schneiderman first. Shana…

Pauline Newman was dykier than Rose. At 16 she led the biggest rent strike in NYC. After scores of friends died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, she helped write & enforce NY safety laws. Led women in WTUL & ILGWU for decades. There's so much…

Why do some tragedies generate change and others don’t? 109 years ago today the Triangle Shirtwaist fire killed 146 people - mostly Jewish & Italian immigrant women. The fire was key to winning labor & safety laws. The political power women…

Rose Schneiderman and Leonora O’Reilly were featured speakers at NAWSA conventions as early as 1907. The leaders of the suffrage mainstream warmed to working class women when they saw how these fiery activists could ignite a crowd. [New thread!] But…

South Dakota became a state in 1899. Its motto: “Under God the People Rule.” National suffrage leaders converged on the state immediately to campaign for a doomed suffrage amendment. Its motto: “Women Are People.” A #StateOfTheWeek thread White women…