Matilda Joslyn Gage: Activism for Women's Rights

Matilda Joslyn Gage was an American women's rights activist, writer, and suffragist. She is known for her work on the Woman's Bible, a feminist critique of the Bible.

Matilda Joslyn Gage's parents valued her independent thinking and encouraged her intellectual development. Her father even took her on his medical rounds, teaching her subjects like Greek, math, and science.

Matilda's childhood was marked by the abolitionist movement. She was surrounded by an anti-slavery environment and witnessed the Underground Railroad firsthand. She became actively involved in abolitionist activities, distributing pamphlets and signing petitions.

At age 26, Matilda began her public advocacy for women's rights by giving her first speech at a women's rights convention.

Matilda challenged the traditional religious arguments used to justify women's subordination. She argued that religion, instead of aiding women's rights, actually limited them. This viewpoint resulted in her being criticized in articles and letters to the editor.

Inspired by Native American communities where women were respected, Matilda questioned the societal expectations imposed on women and their lack of equal rights.

Matilda's home in Fayetteville, New York, became a focal point for reform activities, where she advocated for the rights of African Americans, workers, and women.

Matilda's daughter, Helen, became a prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement, continuing her mother's legacy of advocacy for women's rights.

The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) were a Native American society where women held significant power, influencing laws, choosing chiefs, and controlling land ownership.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, a prominent suffragist, was deeply influenced by the Haudenosaunee's matriarchal structure, where women had a strong voice in governance and social life.

Matilda Joslyn Gage had a strong belief in women's rights and saw oppression as something she was born to oppose.

The Haudenosaunee society was organized around a matrilineal system, where inheritance and family lineage were traced through the mother's side, giving women powerful roles.

In the Haudenosaunee society, women had a say in law-making, treaty negotiations, and the selection of chiefs.

Matilda Joslyn Gage wrote a series of articles about the Iroquois tribes of central New York for the New York Evening Post. She highlighted how these tribes had systems of government that included equal rights for women and men. This sparked her passion for women's suffrage and led to her further advocacy for women's rights.

Matilda Joslyn Gage's book, Woman, Church and State, argued that the Christian faith and male religious leaders had historically conspired to oppress women.

Matilda Joslyn Gage's newspaper, The National Citizen and Ballot Box, served as a platform for her to write about women's issues, encompassing their rights, roles in society, and their equality in various spheres including home, marriage, church, and societal customs.

Matilda Joslyn Gage was adopted into the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk nation, where she was granted the honor of voting on tribal matters including the naming of the chief. This was ironic because she was denied the right to vote in her own local school board election in the United States.

Matilda Joslyn Gage was a staunch advocate for women's right to vote, which led her to write the book Woman, Church and State. In this book, she argued against the patriarchal structures within society and advocated for women's equality.

New York State, in 1880, granted women the right to vote for school board members. However, the right was revoked in 1893 after educators protested as women were electing female board members.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, a lifelong advocate for women's rights, died in 1898, two years before the start of the new century, leaving a legacy of activism and a call for women to continue the fight for equality and self-determination.