Mary Lease and Womens' Suffrage

Mary Lease and Womens' Suffrage

The women’s suffrage and rights movement started in 1848. A group of progressives, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met at Seneca Falls to discuss womens’ rights. The movements began gaining momentum up until that start of the Civil War, where unfortunately for women, the focus switched from the movements to the war. It was not until long after the Civil War, that in 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed.

For a Kansas connection, Mary Lease was born on September 11, 1850 in Ridgway, Pennsylvania. At around 1870, Mary Lease moved to Osage Mission, Kansas. There, she became a teacher in a parochial school. She also got married and soon after moved to Texas and had three kids.

Mary Elizabeth Lease became an American lecturer and political activist who was at the forefront of the People’s Party, which was a party that wanted the common man to be represented. She supported women’s suffrage, temperance, and even spoke out against Wall Street, stating that the government “is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.”

In the 1880’s, Mary Lease returned to Kansas, where she talked about the Irish National League, and even spoke in front of the Union Labor Party, where she became their candidate for office a while before women were even allowed to vote! She also campaigned to become a member of the Farmers’ Alliance during the 1890’s, and eventually made it in.

Citations

• "Mary Elizabeth Lease." - Kansapedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

• "Mary Elizebeth Clyens Lease." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004, "Lease, Mary Elizabeth." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2016, and "Lease, Mary Elizabeth." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. "Mary Elizebeth Clyens Lease." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

• "Women's Suffrage." - Kansapedia. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.