Today in History—May 10: Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for U.S. president

Clairvoyant. Medium. Stage actress. Free love activist. Suffragist. Communist. Capitalist. Stock broker. Newspaper publisher. Iconoclast.

On this day in 1872, Victoria Woodhull added another title: first female candidate for the U.S. presidency.

Being a trailblazer for women in U.S. politics might be the least surprising line on her resume.

At 33—technically too young to qualify—Woodhull had already broken more than a few barriers before she accepted the Equal Rights Party’s nomination at New York City’s Apollo Hall that spring night.

Born Victoria Claflin in Homer, Ohio, Woodhull had a peripatetic childhood, working as a medium and faith healer alongside her younger sister Tennessee (Tennie) in her family’s traveling medicine show. By 1868—after two marriages, two children, and a divorce—Woodhull had settled in New York with Tennie, where the two continued their work as clairvoyants.

There they met Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad magnate, who employed the women to contact his recently deceased wife and advise him on investments (there may have been some insider trading via séance). Their guidance paid off, and Vanderbilt bankrolled their next venture: the brokerage firm of Woodhull, Claflin, and Company.

The firm, opened in February 1870, was the first in U.S. history to be run by women, founded for the benefit of workers, women, and the poor. Were the Claflin sisters interested in finance? Not particularly. As Woodhull explained, she went into Wall Street “because I wanted to plant the Flag of women’s rebellion in the center of the continent.”

A series of big moves followed in rapid succession:

Woodhull announced her candidacy for president in April 1870 (she just needed a party). The next month, the Claflin sisters used their financial earnings to start a newspaper—Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly—becoming the country’s first female newspaper publishers. (A trend is forming.) In January 1871 Woodhull became the first woman to address Congress, arguing that the 14th Amendment already granted women the right to vote.

All of this led to May 10, 1872, and Woodhull’s nomination, approved by more than 600 delegates to riotous applause. In the election six months later, Woodhull was not on the official ballot for president, and she won no electoral votes. Nevertheless, history was made.

Woodhull moved to England in 1877, where she later added one more point to her remarkable resume: first woman to drive a motorcar through London’s Hyde Park.