Heritage Floor Tags > profession: Activist
Jane Addams
b. 1860, Cedarville, Illinois; d. 1935, ChicagoJane Addams, an American social worker, reformer, suffragist, and pacifist, dedicated her life to advancing the rights of women, children, and immigrants. In 1889, she established Hull House, one of... Read more
Elfrida Andrée
b. 1841, Visby, Sweden; d. 1929, Göteborg, SwedenElfrida Andrée was a Swedish musician, composer, and advocate of women's rights. She became a professional organist in 1857—a unique accomplishment for a woman at this time—and served as the... Read more
Inesse Armand
b. 1874, Paris; d. 1920, Saint PetersburgThe correct spelling of this name is INESSA ARMAND.
Inessa Armand led the pioneering effort for female equality and women's rights within the Communist movement in Russia and beyond.... Read more
Angelica Balbanoff
b. 1878, Chernihiv, Ukraine; d. 1965, RomeAngelica Balabanoff was a Russian socialist and writer. Around 1900, she settled in Rome, where she began organizing immigrant laborers in the textile industry, became a leader of the Italian... Read more
Annie Wood Besant
b. 1847, London; d. 1933, Adyar, Madras [now Chennai], Tamil Nadu, IndiaLegally separated from her husband, a conservative clergyman, Annie Wood Besant supported herself and her daughter by lecturing and writing, including articles on marriage and women's rights. Besant rejected Christianity... Read more
Barbara Bodichon
b. 1827, Watlington, Norfolk, England; d. 1891, Robertsbridge, Sussex (now East Sussex), EnglandArtist, writer, feminist, and activist Barbara Bodichon is rumored to have been the model for the eponymous character of George Eliot's Romola (1863). She proved herself a meticulous researcher and... Read more
Rosa Bonheur
b. 1822, Bordeaux, France; d. 1899, Melun, FranceRosa Bonheur was a celebrated painter who exhibited work at the Paris Salon and was known for her detailed depictions of animals. She was trained by her father, Raymond Bonheur... Read more
Yekaterina Breshkovskaya
b. 1844, Vitsyebsk (now in Belarus); d. 1934, Prague or Khvaly, Russia (sources vary)The "Babushka" (Little Grandmother) of the Russian Revolution, Yekaterina Breshkovskaya (also known as Catherine Breshkovsky) was born into a wealthy aristocratic family. Her revolutionary work began with the education of... Read more
Minna Canth
b. 1844, Tampere, Russian Finland; d. 1897, Kuopio, FinlandA playwright, short-story writer, and social activist, Minna Canth was the first notable "Finnish Social Realist," admired especially for the psychological depth of her later works. She depicted her characters... Read more
Rachel Carson
b. 1907, Springdale, Pennsylvania; d. 1964, Silver Spring, Maryland"Miss Carson, what do you eat?" And she replied, "Chlorinated hydrocarbons like everyone else."
Rachel Carson, catalyst of the modern environmental movement, developed a love for the natural world... Read more
Carrie Chapman Catt
b. 1859, Ripon, Wisconsin; d. 1947, New Rochelle, New YorkCarrie Chapman Catt, a dynamic leader and political strategist, was a key coordinator of the woman suffrage movement in the United States. She revitalized the National American Woman Suffrage Association... Read more
Minna Cauer
b. 1841, Freyenstein, Prussia; d. 1922, BerlinA leader of the left wing of the German bourgeois women's movement, Minna Cauer promoted radical democratic causes through the feminist newspaper Die Frauenbewegung (The Women's Movement), where she worked... Read more
Frances Power Cobbe
b. 1822, Dublin; d. 1904, Hengwrt, WalesFrances Power Cobbe, feminist journalist and pioneer of animal rights activism, founded two major groups: first, in 1875, the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection (SPALV), the... Read more
Dorothea Dix
b. 1802, Hampden, Maine; d. 1887, Trenton, New JerseyAmerican educator and social reformer Dorothea Dix was transformed into a passionate crusader for the mentally ill at the age of thirty-nine, when she volunteered to teach a Sunday school... Read more
Millicent Fawcett
b. 1847, Adleburgh, Suffolk, England; d. 1929, LondonMillicent Fawcett was actively involved in politics and the suffrage movement in London, advocating public education and constitutional methods for gaining the franchise, in contrast to the confrontational and militant... Read more
Augusta Fickert
b. 1855, Vienna; d. 1910, Maria Enzersdorf, AustriaThe correct spelling of this name is AUGUSTE FICKERT.
Auguste Fickert co-founded the Allgemeiner Österreichischer Frauenverein (General Austrian Women's Association) in 1893 and edited its house organs, the Dokumente... Read more
Vera Figner
b. 1852, Khristoforovka, Kazan Province, Russia; d. 1943, MoscowVera Figner, Russian medical aide and revolutionary socialist, was an activist for the poor and disadvantaged classes of her homeland. She became a leader of Narodnaya Volya (the People's Will)... Read more
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
b. 1890, Concord, New Hampshire; d. 1964, MoscowElizabeth Gurley Flynn was an American socialist, labor organizer, and activist for the rights of women and immigrants. As a leading member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)... Read more
Margarete Forchhammer
b. 1863, Ålborg, Denmark; d. 1955, exact location uncertainThe correct name of this person is HENNI FORCHHAMMER.
Henni Forchhammer, the first woman to address the Danish Parliament, founded the Danish National Council of Women in 1899, which... Read more
Elizabeth Fry
b. 1780, Norwich, Norfolk, England; d. 1845, Ramsgate, Kent, EnglandElizabeth Fry, an English philanthropist and devout Quaker, dedicated her life to bettering the conditions of prisoners, the poor, and the homeless. In 1817, she co-founded the Association for the... Read more
FAQ

Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum