Flora Dodge La Follette (September 10, 1882 – February 17, 1970), known as Fola La Follette, was an American actress and teacher turned

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 ...

and

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and editor/author from

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. At the time of her death in 1970, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' quoted her on women's suffrage: "A good husband is not a substitute for the ballot." She was the daughter of progressive politician Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette and lawyer and women's suffrage leader Belle Case, wife of playwright George Middleton, a contributing editor to '' La Follette’s Weekly Magazine'', an actress, and, with her mother, a chronicler of her father's life.

Early life

On September 10, 1882, Fola La Follette was born the first child to lawyer and women's suffrage leader

Belle Case La Follette Isabelle Case La Follette (April 21, 1859 – August 18, 1931) was a women's suffrage, peace, and civil rights activist in Wisconsin, United States. She worked with the Woman's Peace Party during World War I. At the time of her death in 193 ...

and progressive politician

Robert La Follette Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th Governor of Wisconsin. A Republican for most of his l ...

. Her early education was at Wisconsin Academy in Madison. She went on to graduate from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Career

Actress

After graduating, La Follette acted on the stage for ten years, marrying playwright George Middleton in 1911 while retaining her maiden name. She appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in such plays as

Leo Ditrichstein Leo Ditrichstein (January 6, 1865 – June 28, 1928) was an Austrian-American actor and playwright. Biography He was born on January 6, 1865, in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary. He was educated in Vienna and was naturalized as an American citizen ...

's ''Bluffs'' (1908),

Percy MacKaye Percy MacKaye (1875–1956) was an American dramatist and poet. Biography MacKaye was born in New York City into a theatrical family. His father, Steele MacKaye, was a popular actor, playwright, and producer, while his mother, Mary, wrote a dr ...

's '' The Scarecrow'' (1911) and the Broadway production of her husband's ''Tradition''. Fola La Follette, Rose Livingston and unidentified striker

Women's suffrage and labor activist

La Follette wrote for periodicals in the cause of women's suffrage (see below) and was active in helping her mother in the cause from an early age. But it was in the merger of La Follette's women's suffrage and acting careers where she made her greatest impact. She performed numerous times in the one-woman play ''How the Vote was Won'', first in 1910, and, in 1912, she appeared in

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

to give a well-received suffragist speech. Anna Shaw, president of the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National ...

, wrote La Follette, praising the 1910 play: "I had the pleasure of being present at the benefit performance of 'How the Vote was Won' ... and I have wanted ever since to express to you and the others who took part with you, my appreciation for the splendid help that play was to our cause." For suffragists, La Follette became the embodiment of how they wished to be portrayed. Her wry, gracious performances stood as contradiction to the cliché of the "conventional traditional 'suffragists' who are the butt of the comic-joke maker." In 1913, La Follette played a role in gaining her father's promise to intercede in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on behalf of striking workers in the garment industry in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She spent time as a strike picket and used the prominence of her voice as a member of an influential family and as a well-known actress to denounce the arrests and treatment of striking workers. It was a significant time in both the

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

and

women's movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such iss ...

, and the public's attention was caught by the concept of women picketing for their rights, and La Follette and other activists showed their support. In addition to picketing, La Follette gave a speech to the workers, went to court to testify on behalf of arrested workers and raised the issue of police brutality. Together with other society and college women, La Follette was part of what was referred to in this and other strikes as the "

mink brigade The mink brigade was a name used, at first mockingly, to refer to wealthy or otherwise socially privileged women who supported striking workers in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the Unite ...

", women whose dress and social status would give police pause in arresting them. Together with other actors, La Follette helped found the actors' union

Actors' Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

Political campaigner

In 1924, La Follette took the place of her mother Belle, who had become ill, in the presidential campaign of her father, Robert M. La Follette, Sr.

Teacher

From 1926 to 1930, La Follette taught at City and Country School in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Author

La Follette served as a contributing editor to the family's eponymous progressive magazine and contributed to other periodicals. La Follette's mother had begun a biography of Fola's famous father but died about one quarter of the way into the project. La Follette labored over the next 16 years to finish the biography, published in 1953, which the chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress called "brilliant" and of which ''The New York Times'' reviewer wrote: "What we have here, in sum, is a wonderfully rich and detailed personal account that goes far to restore to us one of the giants of the past generation."

Death

La Follette died at the age of 87, of pneumonia, in a hospital in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

on February 17, 1970.

Publications

References

External links

American Women, Manuscript Division
-

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Follette, Fola 1882 births 1970 deaths La Follette family University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American suffragists Wisconsin Progressives (1924) 20th-century American politicians American women writers Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Actors from Madison, Wisconsin Writers from New York City Writers from Washington, D.C. American stage actresses Actresses from Wisconsin Deaths from pneumonia in Virginia 20th-century American actresses Activists from New York City