Women You May Not Know

Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for U.S. president and the first female stockbroker on Wall Street. Born in 1838 in Ohio, her early life was marked by hardship and instability. After divorcing her first husband, she became an advocate for the “Free Love” movement which promoted women’s rights to leave unhealthy marriages. 

With her sister, Tennessee Claflin, Woodhull started a successful brokerage firm and a progressive newspaper (1870), Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, that supported women’s suffrage and opposed abortion, both common views by suffragists in her day. In one of her many articles on this subject she wrote, “The rights of children, then, as individuals begin while they yet remain the fetus.”

 In 1872, she ran for president of the United States under the Equal Rights Party, though her candidacy was hampered by her radical beliefs and ongoing legal troubles. Later in life, Woodhull moved to England, remarried, and became involved in the British suffrage movement. She died in 1927, leaving behind a legacy of activism and controversy.

By Bella Fechter