- NĂ©e:
- Mary Ashton Rice
- Died:
- May 23, 1905, Melrose, Mass. (aged 84)
Mary Ashton Rice Livermore
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Who was Mary Ashton Rice Livermore?
Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (1820â1905) was an American suffragist and reformer who advocated for women's voting rights to address social issues. She taught at the Female Seminary in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and later at a private school in Duxbury, Massachusetts. After marrying Daniel P. Livermore, she wrote for religious and reform periodicals. During the Civil War, she volunteered for the Chicago Sanitary Commission, later becoming co-director, and played a crucial role in supplying the war effort. Livermore was president of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association in 1868 and the American Woman Suffrage Association from 1875 to 1878.
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What causes or movements did Mary Livermore support?
Mary Ashton Rice Livermore was an American suffragist and reformer who believed that women's right to vote would help address social issues.
Livermore was an ardent foe of slavery. After the American Civil War broke out, she volunteered her services to the Chicago Sanitary Commission. Through her work with the Sanitary Commission, Livermore became convinced that extending the vote to women was the key to many social reforms, including temperance. She began to devote an increasing amount of energy to the woman suffrage movement.
She was elected president of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association in 1868. Later, she attended the founding convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland, Ohio, and was elected a vice president. She also served as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association from 1875 to 1878 and as president of the Massachusetts Womanâs Christian Temperance Union from 1875 to 1885.
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How did Mary Livermore help during the American Civil War?
During the American Civil War, Mary Ashton Rice Livermore volunteered for the Chicago Sanitary Commission, later known as the Northwestern Sanitary Commission. Partnering with Jane C. Hoge, she toured military hospitals and became co-director of the Chicago branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in 1862. Their work ensured a steady supply of clothing, food, medicine, and other necessities for the war effort from aid societies in the upper Midwest. The Chicago office was credited with collecting two-thirds of the material gathered by the entire Sanitary Commission. In 1863, Livermore and Hoge organized the Sanitary Fair, which raised over $70,000 and inspired similar initiatives in other cities.
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In what ways did Mary Livermore contribute to the women's suffrage movement?
Mary Ashton Rice Livermore was an American suffragist and reformer who believed that women's ability to vote would help address social issues. She became convinced that extending the vote to women was the key to many social reforms, including temperance, because of her work with the Sanitary Commission. In 1868, after calling a suffrage convention in Chicago, she was elected president of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association and launched the Agitator, a suffragist paper, in January 1869. Later that year, she attended the founding convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland, Ohio, and was elected vice president. From 1875 to 1878, she served as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association.
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What types of writing and public speaking did Mary Livermore do to promote her causes?
Mary Livermore used various forms of writing and public speaking to promote social reform. As a writer, she contributed to religious and reform periodicals and published Pen Pictures, a collection of essays and sketches. She also launched the Agitator, a suffragist paper, and edited the Womanâs Journal.
As a public speaker, Livermore lectured on the need for educating women and changing liquor laws. She aroused public opinion and remained active in the suffrage movement, holding leadership positions in the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association.
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How is Mary Livermore remembered for her impact on American society?
Mary Livermore is remembered as an American suffragist and reformer who believed that women's right to vote would help address social issues. She volunteered her services to the Chicago Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. As codirector, her efforts inspired the flow of supplies for the war effort. Livermore became convinced that extending the vote to women was key to social reforms, including temperance, and devoted her energy to the women's suffrage movement. She was also president of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association in 1868.
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Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (born Dec. 19, 1820, Boston, Mass., U.S.âdied May 23, 1905, Melrose, Mass.) was an American suffragist and reformer who believed that woman being able to vote would help address social issues. s
Mary Rice attended the Female Seminary in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she remained to teach for two years after her graduation in 1836. From 1839 to 1842 she was a tutor on a Virginia plantation, and the experience made her an ardent foe of slavery. She then took charge of a private school in Duxbury, Massachusetts, where she remained until her marriage in May 1845 to Daniel P. Livermore, a Universalist minister and ardent temperance advocate. During the next 10 years, Mary Livermore wrote for various religious and reform periodicals. The Livermores decided to immigrate to Kansas in 1857, but the illness of a daughter ended their journey at Chicago, where for 12 years they edited the New Covenant, a Unitarian periodical.
In 1863 Mary Livermore published Pen Pictures, a collection of essays and sketches. Soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War, she volunteered her services to the Chicago (later Northwestern) Sanitary Commission. Early in 1862 she and her friend Jane C. Hoge made a tour of military hospitals at St. Louis, Missouri; Cairo, Illinois; and elsewhere, and in December of that year they were made codirectors of the Chicago branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Their joint efforts at inspiring and maintaining a flow of clothing, medical, food, and other supplies for the war effort from local aid societies across the upper Midwest were so successful that the Chicago office was credited with two-thirds of the material collected by the Sanitary Commission. During JulyâOctober 1863 the two women organized the great Sanitary Fair, which raised more than $70,000 and inspired similar efforts in several other cities. Through her work with the Sanitary Commission, Livermore became convinced that extending the vote to women was the key to many social reforms, including temperance, and she began to devote an increasing amount of energy to the woman suffrage movement.
Elected president of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association in 1868, after she had called a suffrage convention in Chicago, she launched the Agitator, a suffragist paper, in January 1869. Later in the year she attended the founding convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland, Ohio, and was elected a vice president. In the same year, she moved back east to Melrose to become editor of the Womanâs Journal, a new Boston periodical, with which the Agitator merged. In 1870 she helped found the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. After two years she resigned the editorship of the Womanâs Journal in order to accommodate a vigorous schedule of lecturing. An accomplished public speaker, she never tired in her efforts to arouse public opinion on the need for educating women and for changing the liquor laws. She remained active in the suffrage movement, serving as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association from 1875 to 1878 and succeeding Lucy Stone as president of the Massachusetts association from 1893 to 1903. She also was president of the Association for the Advancement of Women in 1873 and of the Massachusetts Womanâs Christian Temperance Union from 1875 to 1885. In 1895 she retired from the lecture circuit.
Her lectures and articles were published in numerous periodicals. My Story of the War: A Womanâs Narrative of Four Years Personal Experience appeared in 1887 and was followed in 1897 by The Story of My Life; or, The Sunshine and Shadow of Seventy Years. She was joint editor, with Frances E. Willard, of A Woman of the Century, a highly successful compilation of biographies that first appeared in 1893.