Emma Goldman

She married Jacob Kershner in 1887. However, the marriage was short-lived and they divorced within a year.

She married a Scottish anarchist named James Colton in 1925.

She had a lifelong relationship with anarchist Alexander Berkman with whom she often participated in anarchist and political activities.

Emma Goldman was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Russia. Her mother Taube Bienowitch and father Abraham Goldman had a very troubled relationship which greatly bothered the young girl. She had two half-sisters and three brothers.

She had a difficult childhood as her father was very violent and used to beat up the children while her mother remained distant and aloof. She had a loving relationship only with her elder half-sister Helena.

She was a bold and rebellious youngster who tried her best to fight against violent authorities including her father and unscrupulous teachers.

Her father stopped her from going to school when she was a teenager and she took to independent education. She also began working in order to help her poverty stricken family.

She emigrated to the U.S. in 1885 where she lived with her sister and her husband. She took up work as a seamstress.

On 4 May 1886, several workers in Chicago’s Haymarket Square were peacefully holding a rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day when someone threw a bomb that resulted in the deaths of seven police officers. Even though the actual bomber was never identified, several anarchists were convicted. This incident drew Goldman towards anarchism.

She moved to New York in 1889 where she met anarchist Alexander Berkman who introduced her to Johann Most, the editor of ‘Die Freiheit’. Impressed after listening to Most’s lecture on anarchism, she became his protege.

She delivered her first public lecture in 1890 under the guidance of Most whom she accompanied on many of his tours where they lectured together.

She formed a relationship with Alexander Berkman and the two planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, the manager of the Carnegie Steel Company in the wake of the Homestead Strike in 1892.

She is most renowned as a great speaker and activist who fearlessly worked for the causes she believed in. She traveled throughout the world lecturing on a wide range of topics like anarchism, women’s rights, sexuality, birth control, political reforms, and philosophy.