Maria Freeman Gray | |
|---|---|
 Maria Freeman Gray in 1899 | |
| Born | February 15, 1832 New Salem, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 16, 1915 (aged 83) San Francisco, California |
| Nationality | American |
Maria Freeman Gray (1832–1915) was an American educator, feminist and socialist involved in the Anti-imperialism and Peace movements.
Life
Gray was born in New Salem, Massachusetts on February 15, 1832. She attended Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy.[1]
Gray traveled westward in 1852 under the auspices of the National Board of Popular Education, organized by Catharine Beecher to promote women as educators. She taught in various schools, including two years at Fort Wayne College. She married Judge John Henry Gray in 1855 and had two children,[1] known as the Gray brothers.[2] Her husband was well known for overturning an Iowa law that had kept free blacks from entering Iowa.[3] He died in 1865.[4]
In Iowa in 1862 Gray was president the state branch of the Women's Loyal League, an organization seeking to abolish slavery.[1]
In California she was vice-president of the state branches of the Anti-Imperialist League, the Universal Peace Union, and the American Humane Education Society. In 1888, Gray and five other women ran for the San Francisco Board of Education.[1] All six candidates lost, but considered it a kind of victory to have been competitive in a race in which women could not legally vote.[5]
In 1900, Gray was chosen to represent California at an International Congress for the Rights of Women in conjunction with the Exposition Universelle in Paris.[6] Gray wrote for newspapers and magazines, and was a member of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association. She testified before Congress on behalf of this association in 1900.[7]
Beliefs
Gray was a socialist and a Quaker.[1] She was a member of Race Street Meeting in Philadelphia.[8]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Leonard, John William, ed. (1914), Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, American Commonwealth Company, p. 339
- ↑ Motter, H. L., ed. (1912), Who's Who in the World, New York City: International Who's Who Publishing Company, p. 535
- ↑ "Modern Woman". The Lancaster Morning News. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. September 9, 1907. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
- ↑ Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1915), Who's who of America, vol. 8, London: A. N. Marquis & Company, pp. 950–951
- ↑ Nickliss, Alexandria M. (2018). Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics. Lincoln, Nebraska: Bison Books. p. 147. ISBN 9781496202277.
- ↑ "To Represent California". The Examiner. San Francisco. August 10, 1900. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
- ↑ 1900 Congressional Record, Vol. 46, Page H3186 (March 22, 1900)
- ↑ Friends' Intelligencer. Vol. 64. Philadelphia: Friends' Intelligencer Association. 1907. p. 329.