Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch
Encyclopedia
Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch (January 20, 1856 – November 20, 1940) was an American writer and suffragist and the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton
.
, to social activists Henry Brewster Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
, the sixth of seven children. She attended Vassar College
, where she graduated with a degree in mathematics
in 1878. She attended the Boston School for Oratory for a year, and then spent most of 1880-1881 in Germany
as a tutor for young girls. On her return voyage to the United States
, she met English businessman William Henry Blatch, Jr., who went by the name of Harry. Blatch and Harriot Stanton were married in 1882, and lived outside of London
for twenty years. They had two daughters, the second of whom died at age four. Their first daughter, Nora Stanton Blatch Barney
, continued the family tradition as a suffragist, was the first American woman to earn a degree in civil engineering
, and was briefly married to Lee De Forest
. Harry Blatch died in 1915, after being accidentally electrocuted.
In 1881, Harriot Stanton worked with her mother and Susan B. Anthony
on the History of Woman Suffrage
. She contributed a major chapter to the second volume, in which she included the history of the American Woman Suffrage Association, a rival of Stanton and Anthony's National Woman Suffrage Association. This action would help to reconcile the two organizations.
While in England, she performed a statistical study of rural English working women's conditions, for which she received her M.A.
from Vassar. She also worked with English social reform groups, including the Women's Local Government Society, the Fabian Society
, and the Women's Franchise League
. In the Women's Franchise League, she developed organizing techniques that she would later use in America.
movement, which had stagnated. She initially joined the leadership of the Women's Trade Union League
. In 1907, she founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (later renamed the Women's Political Union), to recruit working class
women into the suffrage movement. The core membership of the league comprised 20,000 factory, laundry, and garment workers from the Lower East Side
of New York City
. Through this group, Blatch organized and led the 1910 New York suffrage parade. Blatch succeeded in mobilizing many working-class women, even as she continued to collaborate with prominent society women. She could organize militant street protests while still working expertly in backroom politics to neutralize the opposition of Tammany Hall politicians who feared the women would vote for prohibition.
The Union achieved significant political strength, and actively lobbied for a New York state constitutional amendment to give women the vote, which was achieved in 1917 after Tammany Hall relaxed its opposition. In 1915, Blatch's Women's Political Union merged with Alice Paul
and Lucy Burns
' Congressional Union
, which eventually became the National Woman's Party
.
, Blatch devoted her time to the war effort, heading the Women's Land Army
, which provided additional farm labor. She wrote Mobilizing Woman Power in 1918, about women's role in the war effort, urging women to "go to work". In 1920, she published A Woman's Point of View, where she took a pacifist
position due to the destruction of the war.
After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment
in 1920, Blatch joined the National Woman's Party
to fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
, rather than the protective legislation supported by the Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the Socialist Party, and was nominated for New York City Comptroller
and later the New York State Assembly
, but did not win office. She eventually left the party, because of its support for protective legislation for women workers.
During the 1920s, Blatch also worked on behalf of the League of Nations
, proposing improvements for the amendments to the League's Covenant.
In 1939, Blatch suffered a fractured hip and moved to a nursing home in Greenwich, Connecticut
. Her memoir, Challenging Years, was published in 1940. She died on November 20, 1940 in Greenwich, Connecticut
.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
.
Biography
Harriot Eaton Stanton was born in Seneca Falls, New YorkSeneca Falls (village), New York
Seneca Falls is a village in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 6,861 at the 2000 census. The village is in the Town of Seneca Falls, east of Geneva, New York. On March 16, 2010, village residents voted to dissolve the village, a move that would take effect at the end of 2011...
, to social activists Henry Brewster Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
, the sixth of seven children. She attended Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, where she graduated with a degree in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
in 1878. She attended the Boston School for Oratory for a year, and then spent most of 1880-1881 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as a tutor for young girls. On her return voyage to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, she met English businessman William Henry Blatch, Jr., who went by the name of Harry. Blatch and Harriot Stanton were married in 1882, and lived outside of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for twenty years. They had two daughters, the second of whom died at age four. Their first daughter, Nora Stanton Blatch Barney
Nora Stanton Blatch Barney
Nora Stanton Blatch Barney was an American civil engineer, architect, and suffragist.-Early life:...
, continued the family tradition as a suffragist, was the first American woman to earn a degree in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
, and was briefly married to Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
. Harry Blatch died in 1915, after being accidentally electrocuted.
In 1881, Harriot Stanton worked with her mother and Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
on the History of Woman Suffrage
History of Woman Suffrage
History of Woman Suffrage was produced by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and Ida Husted Harper in six volumes from 1881 to 1922...
. She contributed a major chapter to the second volume, in which she included the history of the American Woman Suffrage Association, a rival of Stanton and Anthony's National Woman Suffrage Association. This action would help to reconcile the two organizations.
While in England, she performed a statistical study of rural English working women's conditions, for which she received her M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Vassar. She also worked with English social reform groups, including the Women's Local Government Society, the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, and the Women's Franchise League
Women's Franchise League
The Women's Franchise League was an organisation created by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst together with her husband Richard in 1889, fourteen years before the creation of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903....
. In the Women's Franchise League, she developed organizing techniques that she would later use in America.
Suffrage campaigns
On returning to the United States in 1902, Blatch sought to reinvigorate the American women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
movement, which had stagnated. She initially joined the leadership of the Women's Trade Union League
Women's Trade Union League
The Women's Trade Union League was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women formed in 1903 to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions...
. In 1907, she founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (later renamed the Women's Political Union), to recruit working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
women into the suffrage movement. The core membership of the league comprised 20,000 factory, laundry, and garment workers from the Lower East Side
Lower East Side, Manhattan
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Through this group, Blatch organized and led the 1910 New York suffrage parade. Blatch succeeded in mobilizing many working-class women, even as she continued to collaborate with prominent society women. She could organize militant street protests while still working expertly in backroom politics to neutralize the opposition of Tammany Hall politicians who feared the women would vote for prohibition.
The Union achieved significant political strength, and actively lobbied for a New York state constitutional amendment to give women the vote, which was achieved in 1917 after Tammany Hall relaxed its opposition. In 1915, Blatch's Women's Political Union merged with Alice Paul
Alice Paul
Alice Stokes Paul was an American suffragist and activist. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.-Activism: Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from...
and Lucy Burns
Lucy Burns
Lucy Burns was an American suffragist and women's rights advocate. She was a passionate activist in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Burns was a close friend of Alice Paul, and together they ultimately formed the National Woman's Party.-Early life and education:Lucy Burns was born in...
' Congressional Union
Congressional Union
The Congressional Union was a radical American organization formed in 1913 and led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. It campaigned for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. It was inspired by the United Kingdom's suffragette movement....
, which eventually became the National Woman's Party
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
.
War and postwar
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Blatch devoted her time to the war effort, heading the Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
, which provided additional farm labor. She wrote Mobilizing Woman Power in 1918, about women's role in the war effort, urging women to "go to work". In 1920, she published A Woman's Point of View, where she took a pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
position due to the destruction of the war.
After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
in 1920, Blatch joined the National Woman's Party
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
to fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
, rather than the protective legislation supported by the Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the Socialist Party, and was nominated for New York City Comptroller
Comptroller
A comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization.In British government, the Comptroller General or Comptroller and Auditor General is in most countries the external auditor of the budget execution of the...
and later the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
, but did not win office. She eventually left the party, because of its support for protective legislation for women workers.
During the 1920s, Blatch also worked on behalf of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, proposing improvements for the amendments to the League's Covenant.
In 1939, Blatch suffered a fractured hip and moved to a nursing home in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
. Her memoir, Challenging Years, was published in 1940. She died on November 20, 1940 in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
.
Further reading
- Blatch, Harriot Stanton and Alma Lutz; Challenging Years: the Memoirs of Harriot Stanton Blatch; G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, NY, 1940.