Amelia Bloomer
Amelia Bloomer | |
---|---|
"Bloomers" | |
Notable work | owner/editor of The Lily |
Spouse | Dexter Bloomer (m. 1840) |
Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 – December 30, 1894) was an American newspaper editor,
Early life
Amelia Jenks was born in 1818 in Homer, New York, to Ananias Jenks and Lucy (Webb) Jenks. She was one of the youngest in her large family, having at least 4 sisters and 2 brothers. She came from a family of modest means and received only a few years of formal education in the local district school.[1]
Career
After a brief time as a school teacher at the age of 17, she decided to relocate, and moved in with her newly married sister Elvira, then living in Waterloo. Within a year she had moved into the home of the Oren Chamberlain family in Seneca Falls to act as the live-in governess for their three youngest children.[2]
On April 15, 1840, when she was 22, she married law student Dexter Bloomer who encouraged her to write for his New York newspaper, the Seneca Falls County Courier. Bloomer supported her activism; he even gave up drinking as part of the Temperance Movement.[1]
She spent her early years in
Social activism
In 1848, Bloomer attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, though she did not sign the Declaration of Sentiments and subsequent resolutions, due to her deep connection with the Episcopal Church. This meeting would serve as her inspiration to start her newspaper.
The following year, she began editing the first newspaper by and for women,
Bloomer described her experience as the first woman to own, operate and edit a news vehicle for women:
It was a needed instrument to spread abroad the truth of a new gospel to woman, and I could not withhold my hand to stay the work I had begun. I saw not the end from the beginning and dreamed where to my propositions to society would lead me.
In her publication, Bloomer promoted a change in dress standards for women that would be less restrictive in regular activities.
The costume of women should be suited to her wants and necessities. It should conduce at once to her health, comfort, and usefulness; and, while it should not fail also to conduce to her personal adornment, it should make that end of secondary importance.
In 1851, New England temperance activist
Also in 1851, Bloomer introduced the suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to each other.[9][10]
In 1854, when Bloomer and her husband decided to move to Council Bluffs, Iowa, Bloomer sold The Lily to Mary Birdsall in Richmond, Indiana. Birdsall and Dr. Mary F. Thomas kept the publication going at least through 1859.[1][11]
Bloomer remained a suffrage pioneer and writer throughout her life, writing for a wide array of periodicals. Although Bloomer was far less famous than some other feminists, she made many significant contributions to the women's movement — particularly concerning dress reform. Bloomer also led suffrage campaigns in Nebraska and Iowa and served as president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association from 1871 until 1873.[4]
Death and burial
She died in 1894, at the age of 76, and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa.[12][13]
Commemorations
She is commemorated together with
From 2002 until 2020, the
See also
- Amelia Bloomer House
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- List of women's rights activists
- Victorian dress reform
Notes
References
- ^ a b c D. C. Bloomer (1895). Life And Writings Of Amelia Bloomer. Universal Digital Library. Arena Publishing Company.
- ^ "Weber, Sandra S., "Special History Sturdy", Women's Rights National Historic Park, Seneca Falls, New York, US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, September 1985". Archived from the original on 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b Falls, Mailing Address: 136 Fall Street Seneca; Us, NY 13148 Phone:568-0024 Contact. "Amelia Bloomer - Women's Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Elizabeth Smith Miller". New York History Net. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
- ^
Dann, Norman K., Ballots, Bloomers and Marmalade. The Life of Elizabeth Smith Miller, Hamilton, New York. Log Cabin Books, 2016, p. 138 ISBN 9780997325102
- ISBN 978-0-19-977839-3.
- ^ a b D. C. Bloomer (1895). Life And Writings Of Amelia Bloomer. Boston: Arena Publishing Company. pp. 72–73.
- ^ a b c "Aub Discusses Commemorative Sculpture - Hobart and William Smith Colleges". .hws.edu. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ "Susan Campbell: We Lost This Time, But Women Push Back - Hartford Courant". Courant.com. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ Beach, Eloise (2 Aug 1976). "Richmond Once Was Site for Paper Published by Amelia Bloomer". Palladium-Item. Richmond, IN. p. 9.
- ^ "Amelia Bloomer | American social reformer". Britannica.com. 1945-10-24. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
- ^ City Clerk. "Cemeteries | Council Bluffs, IA - Official Website". Councilbluffs-ia.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
- ISBN 978-1-64065-235-4.
- ^ "1975 Iowa Women's Hall of Fame Honoree: Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-1894)". Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ "Congressional Record | Congress.gov | Library of Congress". Congress.gov. 1995-09-15. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ "Bloomer, Amelia - National Women's Hall of Fame". Womenofthehall.org. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ a b "The Freethought Trail". The Freethought Trail. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ "Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18". January 27, 2020.
- ^ "2020 Rise: A Feminist Booklist for Young Readers".
Bibliography
- Bloomer, Dexter C. Life and Writings of Amelia Bloomer. Boston: Arena Pub. Co., 1895. Reprinted 1975 by Schocken Books, New York. Includes bibliographical references.
- Coon, Anne C. Hear Me Patiently: The Reform Speeches of Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Vol. 138. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1994.
- Smith, Stephanie, Household Words: Bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, cyber (2006) -- material on changing usage of words.
- The Lily: A Ladies' Journal, devoted to Temperance and Literature. 1849.
External links
- Spartacus biography
- Biography/Pottawattamie County, Iowa
- "Amelia Jenks Bloomer". Women's rights activist, social reformer. Find a Grave. Jan 1, 2001. Retrieved Aug 17, 2011.
- Norwood, Arlisha. "Amelia Bloomer". National Women's History Museum. 2017.
- BBC video article on Amelia Jenks Bloomer, 4 July 2019