- NĂ©e:
- Elizabeth Johnson Devereux
- Born:
- Aug. 12, 1833, Raleigh, N.C., U.S.
- Died:
- Dec. 30, 1913, Englewood, N.J. (aged 80)
Lillie Devereux Blake
-
Who was Lillie Devereux Blake?
Lillie Devereux Blake (1833â1913) was an American novelist, essayist, and reformer who became a zealous activist for women's suffrage.
After the death of her first husband, she supported herself by writing stories and articles for newspapers and magazines. Around 1869, she became involved in the women's suffrage movement. Blake served as president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and the New York City Woman Suffrage League. She led campaigns that secured voting rights for women in school elections and brought about legislation that addressed various issues, such as women's health and employment. She also wrote Woman's Place To-day in 1883 as a response to Reverend Morgan Dix's views. After an unsuccessful attempt to head the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she formed her own National Legislative League.
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What kinds of books and stories did Lillie Devereux Blake write?
Lillie Devereux Blake was an American novelist, essayist, and reformer who wrote fiction and advocated for woman suffrage.
After being widowed, she supported herself through writing, publishing stories and articles in newspapers and magazines under various pseudonyms. Her works include the novel Southwold (1859). Later, she became involved in the women's suffrage movement, and her stories began to reflect this interest, particularly those in A Daring Experiment (1892). In 1883, she published Womanâs Place To-day as a response to Reverend Morgan Dixâs Lectures on the Calling of a Christian Woman (1883).
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In which time period did Lillie Devereux Blake live and work?
Lillie Devereux Blake was an American novelist, essayist, and reformer who lived from 1833 to 1913.
Blake's early career was devoted to writing fiction; however, around 1869, she became involved in the women's suffrage movement. Afterward, many of her stories reflected that interest. Blake served as president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (1879 to 1890) and of the New York City Woman Suffrage League (1886 to 1900). She was also active in the National Woman Suffrage Association.
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How did Lillie Devereux Blake support womenâs rights?
Lillie Devereux Blake was an American novelist, essayist, and reformer who became a zealous activist for women's rights.
Blake's work for women's rights included lecturing and serving as president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association from 1879 to 1890 and of the New York City Woman Suffrage League from 1886 to 1900.
Her successful campaigns secured the vote for women in school elections in 1880. She also helped bring about legislation requiring women physicians in mental institutions, matrons in police stations, chairs for saleswomen, women as census takers, joint guardianship for parents, pension eligibility for Civil War nurses, and eligibility for women to sit in the state constitutional convention in 1894.
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What impact did her writing have on society?
Lillie Devereux Blake's writing and activism significantly impacted society through her advocacy for woman suffrage. As president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and the New York City Woman Suffrage League, she led campaigns that secured voting rights for women in school elections in 1880. Her efforts also led to legislation that required women physicians in mental institutions and matrons in police stations. Additionally, she advocated for providing chairs for saleswomen, employing women as census takers, recognizing mothers and fathers as joint guardians of their children, and ensuring Civil War nurses were eligible for pensions.
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Why is Lillie Devereux Blake remembered today?
Lillie Devereux Blake is remembered as an American novelist, essayist, and reformer who became a zealous activist for women's suffrage. Beginning around 1869, Blake became deeply involved in the women's suffrage movement. As president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (1879-1890) and the New York City Woman Suffrage League (1886-1900), she led numerous campaigns, securing women's right to vote in school elections in 1880 and advocating for various legislative changes. These included ensuring female physicians in mental institutions, providing matrons in police stations, and recognizing women as joint guardians of their children.
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Lillie Devereux Blake (born Aug. 12, 1833, Raleigh, N.C., U.S.âdied Dec. 30, 1913, Englewood, N.J.) was an American novelist, essayist, and reformer whose early career as a writer of fiction was succeeded by a zealous activism on behalf of woman suffrage.
Elizabeth Devereux grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in New Haven, Connecticut, was educated in a private school and by tutors, and in her youth was a belle of New Haven society. In June 1855 she married a lawyer, with whom she lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and New York City until his death, an apparent suicide, in May 1859. Left penniless, she turned for support to writing, a field in which she had already made a small beginning with the publication of a story in Harperâs Weekly in November 1857, followed by other stories and verses and a moderately successful novel, Southwold (1859). Under sundry pseudonyms she was soon turning out stories and articles by the score for newspapers and magazines. She also completed four other novels, two of which were serialized in the New York Mercury and two of which were published in book form. In 1866 she married Grinfill Blake.
About 1869 she became interested in the movement for woman suffrage, and many of her stories after that date reflect that interest, notably those collected in A Daring Experiment (1892). Blake became a popular lecturer and served as president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association from 1879 to 1890 and of the New York City Woman Suffrage League from 1886 to 1900. Although in those posts she led several unsuccessful campaigns for woman suffrage legislation at the state level, a number of her campaigns were successful. Her efforts secured the vote for women in school elections (in 1880) and legislation requiring that women physicians be available in mental institutions, that matrons be on hand in police stations, that chairs be provided for saleswomen, that women be employed as census takers, that mothers and fathers be recognized as joint guardians of their children, that Civil War nurses be eligible for pensions, and in 1894 that women be eligible to sit in the state constitutional convention. In 1883 she published Womanâs Place To-day in reply to the Reverend Morgan Dixâs Lectures on the Calling of a Christian Woman (1883). She was active in the National Woman Suffrage Association (after 1890 the National American Woman Suffrage Association [NAWSA]), but her energy, ambition, and attractiveness, as well as her interest in reforms other than suffrage, aroused suspicion if not actual hostility on the part of Susan B. Anthony. During 1895â99 Blake headed a âcommittee on legislative adviceâ within NAWSA until Anthony abolished it. Blake failed in an attempt to succeed Anthony as president of NAWSA in 1900, losing to Carrie Chapman Catt, and thereupon withdrew to form her own National Legislative League. Ill health forced her retirement from public activity after 1905.
