Laura Witte (April 16, 1869 — November 15, 1939) was an American who became a women’s rights activist and

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

in Germany during the early 20th century.

Formative years

Born on April 16, 1869, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Laura Elisabeth Theodore Roth was the eldest daughter of Johannes Roth (1837–1894), a cotton merchant, and his wife, Jane (Bean) Roth (1841–1901). A sister of sculptor

Frederick Roth Frederick George Richard Roth (1872 – 1944) often referred to as F.G.R. Roth, was an American sculptor and animalier, well known for portraying living animals. The statue of the sled dog Balto in New York City's Central Park is perhaps his mos ...

(1872–1944), Laura Witte was also the aunt of politician Annemarie von Harlem (1894–1983). Hoping to improve her education, she traveled to Germany to the community of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, where her family had a home, and to

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

, where her uncle Friedrich Roth resided. While in Germany, she met Friedrich Carl Witte (1864–1938), a German chemist, whom she married on June 7, 1892, and with whom she had five children: Johanna (born ), Friedrich (born ), Siegfried (1897–1961), Elisabeth (born ), and Carl August (born ). Sometime after 1908, Witte became a volunteer in early childhood education centers and also actively began lecturing about the need to create equal rights for women while campaigning on behalf of the Mecklenburg State Association for Women's Suffrage. By 1915, she was serving on multiple boards of directors, including the Association for Social Aid Work. After becoming a member of the German Democratic Party, Witte was appointed to chair the party's women's group in 1919. That same year, she addressed the chapter of the German Democratic Party located in Bad Doberan. Speaking about "The woman in the new Germany,” she reflected on the status of women who had been granted the right to vote in 1918, and advocated for equal pay for women.

Death

Laura Witte died in Rostock, Germany on November 15, 1939.Beese/Krüger, ''Women's Studies in Rostock: Reports from and about Female Academics''. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)

References

External links

* Letters to and from Laura Witte, i
Witte Family Correspondence
in Rostock City Archives. Archive Portal: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, retrieved online May 10, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Witte, Laura 1869 births 1939 deaths 20th-century American people Suffragettes German women's rights activists American emigrants Immigrants to the German Empire