Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer,

antimilitarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (esp ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

, and journalist. She is best remembered as a leader in the fight for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, as a co-founder and co-editor with her brother Max Eastman of the radical arts and politics magazine '' The Liberator,'' co-founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and co-founder in 1920 of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

. In 2000 she was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Induc ...

Seneca Falls, New York Seneca Falls is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 8,942 at the 2020 census. The Town of Seneca Falls contains the former village also called Seneca Falls. The town is east of Geneva, New York, in the nor ...

Early life and education

Crystal Eastman was born in

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the ...

, on June 25, 1881, the third of four children. Her oldest brother, Morgan, was born in 1878 and died in 1884. The second brother, Anstice Ford Eastman, who became a general surgeon, was born in 1878 and died in 1937. Max was the youngest, born in 1882. In 1883, their parents, Samuel Elijah Eastman and Annis Bertha Ford, moved the family to

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex ...

. In 1889, their mother became one of the first women ordained as a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

minister in America when she became a minister of the

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. Her father was also a Congregational minister, and the two served as pastors at the church of Thomas K. Beecher near Elmira. Her parents were friendly with writer

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

. From this association young Crystal also became acquainted with him. This part of New York was in the so-called " Burnt Over District." During the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

earlier in the 19th century, its frontier had been a center of evangelizing and much religious excitement, which resulted in the founding of such beliefs as Millerism and

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects o ...

. During the antebellum period, some were inspired by religious ideals to support such progressive social causes as

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

and the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

. Crystal and her brother Max Eastman were influenced by this humanitarian tradition. He became a

activist in his early life, and Crystal had several common causes with him. They were close throughout her life, even after he had become more conservative. The siblings lived together for several years on 11th Street in New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

among other radical activists. The group, including Ida Rauh,

Inez Milholland Inez Milholland Boissevain (August 6, 1886 – November 25, 1916) was a leading American suffragist, lawyer, and peace activist. From her college days at Vassar, she campaigned aggressively for women’s rights as the principal issue of a wi ...

, Floyd Dell, and Doris Stevens, also spent summers and weekends in

Croton-on-Hudson Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern s ...

. Eastman graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

in 1903 and received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in sociology (then a relatively new field) from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1904. She then attended

New York University Law School New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

, graduating in 1907 as the second in her class.

Social efforts

Social work pioneer and journal editor Paul Kellogg offered Eastman her first job, investigating labor conditions for The Pittsburgh Survey sponsored by the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her recently deceased husband, rai ...

. Her report, ''Work Accidents and the Law'' (1910), became a classic and resulted in the first

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

law, which she drafted while serving on a New York state commission. She continued to campaign for occupational safety and health while working as an investigating attorney for the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations during

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

's presidency. She was at one time called the "most dangerous woman in America," due to her free-love idealism and outspoken nature. She advocated for "motherhood endowments" whereby mothers of young children would receive monetary benefits. She argued it would reduce forced dependence of mothers on men, as well as economically empower women.

Emancipation

During a brief marriage to Wallace J. Benedict, which ended in divorce, Eastman moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

with him. There she managed the unsuccessful 1912

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

campaign. When she returned east in 1913, she joined

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, w ...

, Lucy Burns, and others in founding the militant

Congressional Union The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was an American organization formed in 1913 led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to campaign for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's suffrage. It was inspired by the United Kingdom's suffraget ...

, which became the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NW ...

. After the passage of the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920, Eastman and Paul wrote the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

, first introduced in 1923. One of the few socialists to endorse the ERA, Eastman warned that protective legislation for women would mean only discrimination against women. Eastman claimed that one could assess the importance of the ERA by the intensity of the opposition to it, but she felt that it was still a struggle worth fighting. She also delivered the speech, "Now We Can Begin", following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, outlining the work that needed to be done in the political and economic spheres to achieve gender equality.

Peace efforts

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Eastman was one of the founders of the

Woman's Peace Party The Woman's Peace Party (WPP) was an American Pacifism, pacifist and First-wave feminism, feminist organization formally established in January 1915 in response to World War I. The organization is remembered as the first American peace organizatio ...

, soon joined by

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of s ...

Lillian D. Wald Lillian D. Wald (March 10, 1867 – September 1, 1940) was an American nurse, humanitarian and author. She was known for contributions to human rights and was the founder of American community nursing. She founded the Henry Street Settlement in N ...

, and others. She served as president of the New York City branch. Renamed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1921, it remains the oldest extant women's peace organization. Eastman also became executive director of the American Union Against Militarism, which lobbied against America's entrance into the European war and more successfully against war with Mexico in 1916, sought to remove profiteering from arms manufacturing, and campaigned against

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to Ancient history, antiquity and it continues in some countries to th ...

, imperial adventures and

military intervention Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diff ...

. When the United States entered World War I, Eastman organized with Roger Baldwin and

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Early years Thomas was the ...

the

National Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the r ...

to protect conscientious objectors, or in her words: "To maintain something over here that will be worth coming back to when the weary war is over." The NCLB grew into the

, with Baldwin at the head and Eastman functioning as attorney-in-charge. Eastman is credited as a founding member of the ACLU, but her role as founder of the NCLB may have been largely ignored by posterity due to her personal differences with Baldwin.

Marriage and family

In 1916 Eastman married the British editor and antiwar activist Walter Fuller, who had come to the United States to direct his sisters’ singing of folksongs. They had two children,

Jeffrey Jeffrey may refer to: * Jeffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * ''Jeffrey'' (1995 film), a 1995 film by Paul Rudnick, based on Rudnick's play of the same name * ''Jeffrey'' (2016 film), a 2016 Dominican Republic documentary film ...

and Annis. They worked together as activists until the end of the war; then he worked as the managing editor of ''The Freeman'' until 1922 when he returned to England. He died in 1927, nine months before Crystal, ending his career editing ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' for the BBC. After Max Eastman's periodical ''

The Masses ''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...

'' was forced to close by government censorship in 1917, he and Crystal co-founded a radical journal of politics, art, and literature, '' The Liberator'', early in 1918. She and Max co-edited it until they put it in the hands of faithful friends in 1922.

Post-War

After the war, Eastman organized the First Feminist Congress in 1919. At times she traveled by ship to London to be with her husband. In New York, her activities led to her being blacklisted during the

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

of 1919–1920. She struggled to find paying work. Her only paid work during the 1920s was as a columnist for feminist journals, notably '' Equal Rights'' and ''

Time and Tide Time and Tide (usually derived from the proverb ''Time and tide wait for no man'') may refer to: Music Albums * ''Time and Tide'' (Greenslade album), 1975 * ''Time and Tide'' (Basia album), 1987 * ''Time and Tide'' (Battlefield Band album), ...

''. Eastman claimed that "life was a big battle for the complete feminist," but she was convinced that the complete feminist would someday achieve total victory.

Death

Crystal Eastman died on July 8, 1928, of

nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation ...

. Her friends were entrusted with her two children, then orphans, to rear them until adulthood.

Legacy

Eastman has been called one of the United States' most neglected leaders, because, although she wrote pioneering legislation and created long-lasting political organizations, she disappeared from history for fifty years.

Freda Kirchwey Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes (anti-Fascist, pro-Soviet, anti-anti-communist). From 1933 t ...

, then editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', wrote at the time of her death: "When she spoke to people—whether it was to a small committee or a swarming crowd—hearts beat faster. She was for thousands a symbol of what the free woman might be." Her speech "Now We Can Begin", given in 1920, is listed as #83 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank). In 2000 Eastman was inducted into the (American)

. In 2018 ''The Socialist'', the official publication of the

Socialist Party USA The Socialist Party USA, officially the Socialist Party of the United States of America,"The article of this organization shall be the Socialist Party of the United States of America, hereinafter called 'the Party'". Art. I of th"Constitution o ...

, published the article "Remembering Socialist Feminist Crystal Eastman" by Lisa Petriello, which was written "on the 90th-year anniversary of her astman'sdeath to bring her life and legacy once again to the public eye."

Work

Papers

Eastman's papers are housed at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Publications

The Library of Congress has the following publications by Eastman in its collection, many of them published posthumously: * '' 'Employers' Liability,' a Criticism Based on Facts'' (1909) * ''Work-accidents and the Law'' (1910) * ''Mexican-American Peace Committee (Mexican-American league)'' (1916) * ''Work accidents and the Law'' (1969) * ''Toward the Great Change: Crystal and Max Eastman on Feminism, Antimilitarism, and Revolution,'' edited by Blanche Wiesen Cook (1976) * ''Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution,'' edited by Blanche Wiesen Cook (1978)

Footnotes

External links

*
Crystal Eastman Papers Finding Aid
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
crystaleastman.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastman, Crystal 1881 births 1928 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American lawyers American anti-war activists American anti–World War I activists American Civil Liberties Union people American magazine editors American pacifists American political activists American socialists American suffragists American women journalists Columbia University alumni Journalists from Massachusetts Journalists from New York (state) Massachusetts socialists National Woman's Party activists New York (state) socialists New York University School of Law alumni Non-interventionism American opinion journalists People from Canandaigua, New York People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York People from Greenwich Village People from Marlborough, Massachusetts American socialist feminists Vassar College alumni Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people Women magazine editors 20th-century American women lawyers Female Christian socialists Women Christian religious leaders Proponents of Christian feminism Equal Rights Amendment Equal Rights Amendment activists Deaths from nephritis