Matilda Joslyn Gage

Matilda Joslyn Gage - Abolitionist, Birthday and Childhood

Violet FieldHome › AmericanMatilda Joslyn GageMarch 24, 1826370 views

0 based on 0 rates
Matilda Joslyn Gage Biography Stories 

Matilda Joslyn Gage's Personal Details

Matilda Joslyn Gage was a prominent nineteenth century suffrage leader, abolitionist and writer

InformationDetail
BirthdayMarch 24, 1826
Died onMarch 18, 1898
NationalityAmerican
FamousFeminists, Humanitarian, Activists, Civil Rights Activists, Women's Rights Activists, Writers, Abolitionist, Author, Freethinker
SpousesHenry Hill Gage
Known asMatilda Electa Gag
ChildrensCharles Henry Gage, Helen Leslie Gage, Julia Louise Gage, Maud Gage Baum, Thomas Clarkson Gage
Birth PlaceCicero
GenderFemale
FatherHezekiah Joslyn
Sun SignAries
Born inCicero
Famous asAbolitionist, Freethinker, Author
Died at Age71

Matilda Joslyn Gage's photo

Who is Matilda Joslyn Gage?

Matilda Joslyn Gage was a prominent women’s rights activist and women’s suffrage leader of the nineteenth century. She used the pen as her weapon for fighting against the subjugation of women and wrote several speeches, feminist essays and books which put emphasis on the importance of women all through history and how their role was strategically dismissed by men. ‘Born with a hatred for oppression’, Matilda Joslyn Gage was not just concerned with the exploitation of white women but also fought relentlessly against the violence perpetuated on the African slaves, native African-American women and similar minor classes of America. She was elected as the leader of the National Woman Suffrage Association once. Gage was the contemporary of women rights activists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her significance in the women’s suffrage movement was not much acknowledged because when she formed a radical suffrage organization on her own, Anthony and Stanton removed her references from their legendary book on the history of suffrage movement. Scientific historian Margaret. W. Rossiter came up with the phrase ‘Matilda Effect’ after Gage’s name.

// Famous Author

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer is a Christian author and speaker. This biography provides detailed information about her childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline

Suze Orman

Suze Orman

Suze Orman is an American television host, financial advisor, author and motivational speaker, famous for her ‘The Suze Orman Show’ on CNBC. This biography profiles her childhood, life, career, works, achievements and timeline.

Robert Graysmith

Robert Graysmith

Robert Graysmith is an author best identified for his works on the ‘Zodiac Killer case’. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him.

Childhood & Early Life

Matilda Gage was born on March 24, 1826 in Cicero, New York, in a house which was the station of the Underground Railroad.

Her father, Hezekiah, and mother, Helen Leslie Joslyn, were both free thinkers and supporters of liberal social reforms.

Gage was taught by her father at home. She became proficient in Greek, Physiology and Mathematics. When she grew older, she was enrolled at in the Clinton New York Liberal Institute.

Career

Gage’s involvement in the women’s rights movement began with her speech delivered at the Third National Women’s Rights Convention in Syracuse, in the year 1852, at the age of 26. The speech focused on how slavery and the constricted rights of women were different sides of the same coin. This speech became popular and was later published.

In 1869, Matilda Joslyn Gage became a member of the advisory council of the National Woman Suffrage Association. She was the president of the organsation during 1875-1876.

In 1875, she appeared before the U.S congress to state under oath in favor of a Suffrage Bill which was under deliberation. But when the government did not pass the Bill, she wrote an essay which was circulated at the NWSA convention in Washington in 1876. The essay infuriated the government officials who tried to put an end to the convention. However, Gage successfully thwarted their attempt.

In 1878, she started a monthly journal of a Toldedo (Ohio) suffrage group by the name of ‘The National Citizen and the Ballot Box’. The journal covered topics like the plight of women prisoners and prostitutes and opposition of Class Legislation.

As a consequence of her persistent campaigning for women’s right to vote, the state of New York granted women the right to elect members of the school boards.

She supported women like Victoria Woodhull, Ulysses S Grant and Susan B. Anthony, who voted in the 1872 Presendial election by demonstrating moral and legal arguments in their defence.

Matilda Joslyn Gage established a radical group by the name of Woman’s National Liberal UNION (WNLU) in 1890. This group was formed as a reaction to the conservative takeover of the suffrage movement. WNLU soon became a stage for radical ideas which included social reforms like improving prisons, creating labor unions. Gage was the editor of ‘The Liberal Thinker’, a journal of WNLU.

The creation of WNLU was not supported by Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton. They publicly spoke against Gage and removed all reference of her from the fourth volume of the ‘History of Woman Suffrage’.

Gage strongly supported the separation of church and the state, believing that the church doctrines played an active role in upholding the patriarchal system.

She wrote various pamphlets, essays and books regarding women’s right over their lives and body.

Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, she was imprisoned because of the assistance she offered to escaping slaves.

Major Works

Matilda Gage published a vast collection of opinion pieces, essays and books during her lifetime. Some of her most remarkable publications are ‘Woman as Inventor’(1870), ‘History of Woman Suffrage’ (1881), ‘Woman, Church and State’(1893),), ‘Prospectus’ and ‘Indian Citizenship’.

Personal Life & Legacy

Matilda married Henry Hill Gage and the couple bore five children - Charles Henry, Helen Leslie, Thomas Clarkson, Julia Louise, and Maud.

Maud married L.Frank Baum, the author the children’s classic tale ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

Gage’s son Thomas Clarkson Gage and his wife Sophia were the parents of Dorothy Gale, the namesake of the fictional character created by her uncle Baum.

Gage died in 1898, at the Baum home, in Chicago. There is a memorial stone erected as a tribute to her at Fayetteville Cemetery, which carries her slogan: “There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven. That word is Liberty”.

Trivia

She was inspired by the Iroquois society, a matriarchate clan. She spent time among them and was admitted into the Iroquois Council of Matrons who gave her the name ‘Karonienhawi’- ‘she who holds the sky’.

In 1993, scientific historian Margaret W. Rossiter coined the phrase ‘Matilda Effect’, as an antithesis to the ‘Matthew Effect’, after the name of Matilda Joslyn Gage. It was to recognize a social situation where a woman scientist would invariably receive lesser acknowledgement for her contribution to science, based on gender discrimination.

When her daughter, Maud, informed her about her decision to marry Baum, who was but a struggling actor then, Gage was horrified. But only a few minutes later, she burst out laughing, knowing that her daughter bore the same headstrong qualities which she possessed.

// Famous Abolitionist

Thomas Clarkson

Thomas Clarkson

Thomas Clarkson was an English abolitionist and the main force in bringing about the Slave Trade Act. This biography provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline

Granville Sharp

Granville Sharp

Granville Sharp was a social reformer and a leading British abolitionist. This biography of Granville Sharp provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer, writer and social activist. This biography provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works and timeline.

Matilda Joslyn Gage biography timelines

  • // 24th Mar 1826
    Matilda Gage was born on March 24, 1826 in Cicero, New York, in a house which was the station of the Underground Railroad.
  • // 1850
    Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, she was imprisoned because of the assistance she offered to escaping slaves.
  • // 1852
    Gage’s involvement in the women’s rights movement began with her speech delivered at the Third National Women’s Rights Convention in Syracuse, in the year 1852, at the age of 26. The speech focused on how slavery and the constricted rights of women were different sides of the same coin. This speech became popular and was later published.
  • // 1872
    She supported women like Victoria Woodhull, Ulysses S Grant and Susan B. Anthony, who voted in the 1872 Presendial election by demonstrating moral and legal arguments in their defence.
  • // 1875 To 1876
    In 1875, she appeared before the U.S congress to state under oath in favor of a Suffrage Bill which was under deliberation. But when the government did not pass the Bill, she wrote an essay which was circulated at the NWSA convention in Washington in 1876. The essay infuriated the government officials who tried to put an end to the convention. However, Gage successfully thwarted their attempt.
  • // 1878
    In 1878, she started a monthly journal of a Toldedo (Ohio) suffrage group by the name of ‘The National Citizen and the Ballot Box’. The journal covered topics like the plight of women prisoners and prostitutes and opposition of Class Legislation.
  • // 1890
    Matilda Joslyn Gage established a radical group by the name of Woman’s National Liberal UNION (WNLU) in 1890. This group was formed as a reaction to the conservative takeover of the suffrage movement. WNLU soon became a stage for radical ideas which included social reforms like improving prisons, creating labor unions. Gage was the editor of ‘The Liberal Thinker’, a journal of WNLU.
  • // 1898
    Gage died in 1898, at the Baum home, in Chicago. There is a memorial stone erected as a tribute to her at Fayetteville Cemetery, which carries her slogan: “There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven. That word is Liberty”.
  • // 1993
    In 1993, scientific historian Margaret W. Rossiter coined the phrase ‘Matilda Effect’, as an antithesis to the ‘Matthew Effect’, after the name of Matilda Joslyn Gage. It was to recognize a social situation where a woman scientist would invariably receive lesser acknowledgement for her contribution to science, based on gender discrimination.

// Famous Humanitarian

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer is a Christian author and speaker. This biography provides detailed information about her childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and was responsible for awakening India spiritually. Check this biography to know in detail about his life, profile and timeline.

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman is one of the most talented actors that the Hollywood film industry can boast of. Browse through this biography to get detailed information regarding her life, childhood, profile & timeline

Pele

Pele

Pele is considered as the greatest footballer in the history of the game. Explore this biography to know details about his life, profile and timeline.

Benny Hinn

Benny Hinn

Benny Hinn is a televangelist who initiated the faith healing summit called Miracle Crusades. Check out this biography to know detailed information about his childhood, life, works and timeline.

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt is a famous American actor, known for his movies, ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, and ‘World War Z’. This biography provides detailed information about his childhood, profile, career and timeline

Matilda Joslyn Gage's FAQ

  • What is Matilda Joslyn Gage birthday?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage was born at 1826-03-24

  • When was Matilda Joslyn Gage died?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage was died at 1898-03-18

  • Where was Matilda Joslyn Gage died?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage was died in Chicago

  • Which age was Matilda Joslyn Gage died?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage was died at age 71

  • Where is Matilda Joslyn Gage's birth place?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage was born in Cicero

  • What is Matilda Joslyn Gage nationalities?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage's nationalities is American

  • Who is Matilda Joslyn Gage spouses?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage's spouses is Henry Hill Gage

  • Who is Matilda Joslyn Gage childrens?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage's childrens is Charles Henry Gage, Helen Leslie Gage, Julia Louise Gage, Maud Gage Baum, Thomas Clarkson Gage

  • Who is Matilda Joslyn Gage's father?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage's father is Hezekiah Joslyn

  • What is Matilda Joslyn Gage's sun sign?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage is Aries

  • How famous is Matilda Joslyn Gage?

    Matilda Joslyn Gage is famouse as Abolitionist, Freethinker, Author