Anna Elizabeth Dickinson

About

Remembered for her impassioned pro-women's suffrage and anti-slavery speeches, this late 19th and early 20th-century activist aided the successful 1863 campaigns of Republican candidates in several Union-affiliated states.

Before Fame

When she was just fourteen years old, she penned an abolitionist-themed essay for William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper The Liberator.

Trivia

She published an 1868 novel that dealt with the theme of interracial marriage and also played the male title role in the 1882 Broadway production of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Family Life

She and her older siblings were born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Quaker parents. Her father, also a passionate abolitionist, died when she was still a baby.

Associated With

In his autobiography, prominent American author Mark Twain mentions his admiration for Dickinson's skill as an orator.