Louise DeKoven Bowen, 1859-1953

Dekoven in 1922. Photo credit - Wikipedia

A philanthropist, civic and suffrage leader, social reformer, and an advocate for the Juvenile Protective Association and its first president.

Louise DeKoven was born in Chicago, IL, as an only child to an elite family. Although she had a privileged and wealthy life, she grew up with social conscience, dedicating herself to the community. At 16, after graduating from Dearborn Seminary, she taught Sunday school at St. James Episcopal Church, working with unprivileged boys and establishing a boy’s club for them. There, she became frustrated with the church’s boundaries for women. At 27, she married Joseph Tilton Bowen, and their mansion at Astor St. became a gathering place for social and political meetings. At the age of 35, she started working at the Hull House settlement house, where she led its Women’s Club and eventually served as its trustee and treasurer, a position she held for 53 years. She was the organizations’ primary donor, and in 1912, after her husband had died, she founded a summer camp for the children of Hull-House and donated 72 acres for its establishment. When Jane Addams died, she became the president of the Hall House.

She used her status and connections to influence politicians and to raise money for various social causes. She was one of the most influential people to advocate for a juvenile court in Chicago. When it opened in 1899, it became the first juvenile court in the US, and she immediately became a member of its committee, then its top officer, and when it reorganized into the Juvenile Protective Association, she was appointed as its first president. In the 35 years she held this position, she examined various issues, including racial prejudice, working conditions, and prostitution.

She was also a women’s rights activist, serving in numerous organizations in key positions, including president of the Chicago Equal Suffrage Association, auditor of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association, vice president of the Illinois Suffrage Association, and president of the Chicago Woman’s Club. During WW1, she was the only woman appointed to the Illinois Council of Defense, in which she coordinated women throughout the state to support the war effort. In 1916, amid a rainstorm, she led a march of 5000 women to the Republican National Convention in Chicago. This parade of women demanding their civil right to vote marked a shift in the approach toward the cause and the movement. After the ratification of the 19th amendment, she worked tirelessly, convincing women to register to vote and encouraging them to run to public office. She remained active until she died at the age of 94.

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Fun Facts

  • She published an autobiography titled “Growing Up with a City.”
  • In 1922, She was appointed by President Warren G. Harding as the official representative of the US at the Pan-American Conference of Women.
  • She had four children.

Awards

  • Honored as a citizen-fellow of the Chicago Institute of Medicine (1939)
  • The first woman to receive the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service by the Rotary Club of Chicago (1941)
  • Her papers are part of the Richard J. Daley Library Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Illinois at Chicago

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Category: Activism & Feminism and Philanthropy
Tags: 19th Amendment Centennial Anniversary, Chicago Metro Area Women, and Suffragist

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Abigail-Smith-Adams-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Abigail Adams, 1744-1818

A Founding Mother of the United States, a Women’s Rights Advocate, and the Second First Lady.

Abigail Smith was born and raised in Massachusetts. Her father was a liberal minister, her mother was a member of the famous Quincy family mother, and she had two sisters. At a time when women were not allowed to receive a formal education, she was homeschooled and satisfied her appetite for knowledge at the family’s library, forming progressive views. After a two-year courtship, she married John Adams, a country lawyer, and became his closest advisor and partner. They settled in the house John had inherited from his father in Braintree, MA. When his practice expanded, John had to frequently travel while Abigail managed their finances, investments, household, and growing family. For a while, they even moved to Boston next to his practice. Between 1784 and 1788, Abigail joined John in his diplomatic missions in Paris and London. On March 4th, 1797, John became the second president of the United States, and she was the first lady. They lived in the Presidential Mansion in Philadelphia and later in the White House in Washington, DC. She was a politically active first lady, made frequent public appearances, and was involved in the decision-making process, paving the way for future first ladies to be proactive figures. When John lost presidential re-election, the family retired to Peacefield in Quincy in 1800. During his frequent travels before and during the presidency, the couple corresponded in more than 1100 letters, where Abigail demonstrated her talent for writing and opinionated spirit. In one of those letters, she urges her husband to consider women’s rights in the new legislation after independence, warning that if not given equal representation: “women will rebel.” He dismissed her suggestion by writing back that it makes him laugh, but her words “remember the ladies” became an iconic feminist slogan. Before her death, she wrote a will favoring her female relatives. It was an act of protest against the laws prohibiting married women from owning assets. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Adelina-Otero-Warren-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Adelina Otero-Warren, 1881-1965

A suffrage leader, educator, and politician. The first Latina to run for US Congress and one of the first’s women to serve as a government official in New Mexico.

Adelina “Nina” Otero Warren was born near Los Lunas, New Mexico. Her family was among the early settlers in New Mexico, and her parents were part of the Hispanic elite. When she was 2 years old, her father was killed by an Anglo squatter. A few years later, her mother married an English businessman, and she grew up in a multicultural environment. She was influenced by her mother, who was an advocate for social and educational developments and served as the director of Santa Fe’s Board of Education. At 16, the family relocated to Santa Fe, where she became a socialite. At the age of 26, she married Lieutenant Rawson D. Warren, a cavalry officer who was nine years older than her. Though the marriage did not last long, she kept her x-husband’s last name and called herself a widow, so she would not be stigmatized as a divorced woman.   At 31, Nina moved to NYC to keep house for her brother. There, she became active in Anne Morgan’s settlement house, working alongside the famous suffragist Alice Paul and organizing crafts programs for working-class women. Two years later, her mother died, and Nina returned to Santa Fe to take care of her half-siblings. Upon her arrival, she started working for the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. Soon she became the first Mexican-American state leader of the Congressional Union in New Mexico, raising support from the Spanish-speaking community as well as from the English-speaking community. Using her family connections, she was a successful lobbyist for voting in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment, and she had a key role in its ratification in 1920. In 1922, at the age of 41, Nina ran as the Republican Party nominee for New Mexico to the US House of Representatives – The first Latina to run for the US Congress. During her campaign, she spoke Spanish and advocated for the improvement of education, health care, and welfare services, as well as for the preservation of Hispano heritage and culture. Ultimately, she lost the election by less than 9%, probably because it was discovered that she was a divorcee, not a widow. In 1917 Nina was appointed as the Santa Fe Superintendent of Instruction – one of the first women to serve as government officials in New Mexico. In her 12 years in office, she worked tirelessly to improve the education of Hispano. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alice-Paul-WWP
Law

Alice Paul, 1885-1977

A leader for women’s rights and famous for promoting a federal constitutional amendment for woman suffrage.

Alice Paul was born to a wealthy Quaker family on a small New Jersey farm. As Quakers, her parents supported gender equality, including education for women. From a young age, she developed a passion for reading and learning. After graduating high school, top of her class, she studied biology at Swarthmore College, where she was a member of the Executive Board of Student Government. It sparked her interest in political activism, and she moved to NYC to complete a fellowship at the College Settlement House social work. She went on to study and gain multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. in sociology and three law degrees. During a fellowship in England, Paul became involved with the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in London, first selling Suffragist magazines on street corners and then, alongside fellow American suffragette Lucy Burns, organized events, campaigns and established the Scottish branch of the organization. She learned militant protest tactics, such as picketing and hunger strikes, and became known as one who put herself in danger in public events to increase the visibility of the movement. Despite the violent experience of 7 arrests, 3 imprisonments, and 4-week force-feeding, campaigning for the cause of suffrage became her life mission. Upon her return home in 1910, Paul joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She became a central figure in organizing the 1913 Women March in Washington the day before President Wilson’s inauguration, in which about 8000 women marched through Pennsylvania Avenue, viewed by a half million people, many of them harassing and heckling the marchers. In 1916, Paul’s militant approach created tension between her and the NAWSA, and she left to found the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The following year, she stood wearing a white dress and holding purple and gold banners as part of the Silent Sentinels – the first political picket in front of the White House. She was arrested but did not receive the special treatment she was supposed to as a political prisoner, living in harsh conditions and poor sanitation. With her fellow suffragist prisoners, Paul embarked on a hunger strike, for which she was transferred to the prison’s psychiatric ward, being tied up and forced fed. Her methods led to the end of the long struggle of the US suffrage movement, with the ratification of the 19th amendment, granting the legal voting right for women. After women’s suffrage was achieved, Paul moved her efforts to the international arena: co-founding the World Woman’s Party and lobbing for gender equality. She then went back to national politics, drafting the Equal Rights Amendment, which is still in the process of ratification during the 21st century. In 1945, she lobbied for the inclusion of the equality for women clause in the United Nations proclamations, and at the age of 79, she ensured that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had a ‘protection for women’ paragraph. Paul was considered professionally demanding and personally conservative, including being criticized for elitism and racism within the suffragist movement. Among the many biographies of her life, little is mentioned about her personal life. Paul passed away at 92 years old in New Jersey. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alva-Belmont-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Alva E. Belmont, 1853-1933

An important financial supporter of the US suffrage movement, and president of the National Woman's Party (1921-1933).

Alva Erskine Smith was born into a wealthy family in Alabama and lived in New York City and Paris. She married into an even wealthier family, building her public image in the New York City elite by organizing big parties. In 1895, she divorced her husband because of his infidelities. Her decision challenged the social norm that rich men could get away with anything – and she was awarded the largest divorce settlement of that time. Soon after, she married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, one of her first husband’s best friends. After her second husband’s death in 1908, she devoted her time, connections, and fortune to women’s suffrage. Often referred to as “Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont”, she was a sponsor and member of the executive boards of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU) and National Woman’s Party (NWP). She also created her own suffrage organization, the Political Equality Association. For the political purpose, Belmont used her summer mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Known as Marble House, for it consumed more than half a million cubic feet of marble. She opened it for tours, that included lectures on woman suffrage, and organized suffrage conferences there in 1909 and 1914. Conference speakers included Julia Ward Howe, Anna Howard Shaw, and Alva’s daughter Consuelo. In order to open the Suffrage Movement beyond the white upper classes, she established 11 suffrage settlement houses in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Long Island Those. Those were social spaces for meetings, classes, entertainment, reading rooms, and affordable lunch for working-class women and men. The plates and cups in those settlement “restaurants” had the motto “Votes for Women” printed on them. After devoting her life and fortune to fight for gender equality and women’s right to vote, even though she lived to see the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, she swore she would never vote until there was a woman nominated for the position of president. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
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