Women's History Month: Victoria Woodhull

Since March is Women's History Month (yay, we get a whole month! *sense the sarcasm*), I thought that each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the month, I would spotlight a woman (or group of women) that might not get the coverage that she/they deserve(s). She might be a woman who is currently a dynamo in her chosen field, or she might be a woman who, 200 years ago, kicked ass and took names (which I'm fairly sure was a prevalent phrase then). 

Before I spotlight today's beauty, a little background on Women's History Month: In 1981, Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28, which asked the President to designate the week of March 7, 1982 as "Women's History Week." It became "Women's History Month" in 1987, after being petitioned by the Women's History Project. You can read much more information about how it came to pass and the glorious women who it celebrates by visiting the Women's History Month website. 

                                                              Victoria Woodhull

I feel it's only fitting to start this series off with the first female to run for the United States Presidency, hash tag like a boss. Born in 1838, in Homer, Ohio, Victoria Woodhull created a radical publication entitled Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, in which a number of different activist topics, such as free love, women's suffrage and birth control, were discussed. Interestingly, the publication was the first to publish the full English translation of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. 

Woodhull married Canning Woodhull at the age of 15, with whom she had two children. They later divorced and Woodhull remarried, to a Colonel James H. Blood in 1864, who introduced her to several reform movements. Victoria and Blood divorced in 1876, and she then married a wealthy English banker, John Biddulph Martin, in 1883. Before she ran for the Presidency, Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Celeste Claflin, started the first female-run stock brokerage company with the help of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who, recently widowed, appreciated the solace Woodhull and her sister provided, therefore setting the sisters up in business. 

As she sought a way to become more politically active, Woodhull started the Equal Rights Party and soon after, ran for the Presidency in 1872 on the party's ticket, long before women even had the right to vote. The election quickly took a disastrous turn and she publicly fought her critics in Weekly. 

Moving to England in 1877, Woodhull focused on her writing and even published a magazine with her daughter for nine years, The Humanitarian. Dying in 1927, Woodhull was a jack of all trades, and a strong proponent of the rights of women. If you want to read more about this incredible woman, 9 Things You Should Know About Victoria Woodhull, is an excellent place to start. 

                                                      (Credit: New York Historical Society)