Linda Slaughter (February 1, 1843 – July 3, 1911) or Linda Warfel Slaughter was an American historian, journalist, educator, and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist. She was known for her works on interracial and intercultural encounters in the nineteenth-century Midwest.

Early life and education

Slaughter was born in Cadiz, Ohio on February 1, 1843. Her parents, Charles and Maria Boyd Warfel, believed in education and particularly supported educating women, which allowed Slaughter to complete high school and attend the Oberlin College. Some historians claim that she graduated college but the records at Oberlin indicate that she did not complete her program and attended only for a few years. Charles, who was a merchant and a veteran of the Mexican-American War, was an abolitionist and influenced Slaughter's early views on the subject.

Career

She wrote pieces advocating emancipation through objective and enthusiastic reports of the Freedmen and their education. At one point, she departed from the abolitionist view, particularly during a point when she called for wars of extermination against the Indians.

Author

Slaughter began writing early in her life. She started submitting poetry to magazines and her work during this period was eventually published as the book ''Early Efforts''. She is also known for her accounts of Midwestern regionalism through the letters she wrote covering her experiences in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s. Slaughter started this when she traveled to

Fort Rice Fort Rice ( Lakota: ''Psíŋ Otȟúŋwahe''; "Wild Rice Village") was a frontier military fort in the 19th century named for American Civil War General James Clay Rice in what was then Dakota Territory and what is now North Dakota. The 50th Wiscons ...

where her husband was stationed as an officer of the army and was part of the campaign to subdue Indians and establish the federal authority in the West. The couple's children Rosalind, Jessamine, and Linda, were all born at Fort Rice. Slaughter and her husband settled in Bismarck in 1872. She was an active member of the community and wrote about her experiences there. She began writing for ''

The Bismarck Tribune ''The Bismarck Tribune'' is a daily newspaper with a weekly audience of 82,000 unique readers, printed daily in Bismarck, North Dakota. Owned by Lee Enterprises, it is the only daily newspaper for south-central and southwest North Dakota. Histo ...

'', where she contributed a regular fiction that also included social commentary covering the military as well as the Indian campaigns. Aside from the social life in Dakota Territory, Slaughter also wrote about her political views. She raised the political aspects of military matters and Indian policy, which are subjects that her husband and other military officers could not speak about. Slaughter also advocated women's rights in her works. She embraced the women's rights movement and became an important member and officer of the

National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement s ...

(NWSA). Slaughter was also the vice president of the Woman's National Press Association sometime in the late 1880s and participated in the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., wit ...

meeting held in 1888. She worked closely with different women's rights activists such as Marietta Bones and was a close acquaintance of the politician

Belva Ann Lockwood Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood (October 24, 1830 – May 19, 1917) was an American lawyer, politician, educator, and author who was active in the women's rights and women's suffrage movements. She was one of the first women lawyers in the United Sta ...

. In 1892, Slaughter attended the Populist Party convention and voted for a presidential candidate, making her the first woman to do so in a national convention.

Educator

Slaughter was also appointed as the superintendent of schools for Burleigh County in 1873, making her the first woman to occupy such position in Dakota Territory. She held the post several more times until 1882. Slaughter also became the Dakota Territory's deputy superintendent of public instruction in 1876. In the year 1873, she also established Bismarck's first school called Bismarck Academy, employing her sister Aidee Warfel as the teacher. She also founded North Dakota's first Sunday school.

Personal life

Slaughter married the physician Benjamin Franklin Slaughter on August 20, 1868. She met her husband, who was a son of a slave-holding planter, at the western district of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1868 while working as a missionary supervisor after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Franklin served in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during the war and reenlisted in 1870 as an officer. She died on July 3, 1911, in St. Cloud Minnesota.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter, Linda 1843 births 1911 deaths American women historians American women journalists American women's rights activists People from Cadiz, Ohio School superintendents in North Dakota Founders of American schools and colleges Historians from Ohio Historians from Minnesota Educators from North Dakota Oberlin College alumni 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American women educators 19th-century American educators