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Maud Nathan (October 20, 1862 – December 15, 1946) was an American
Lobbying Albany on consumer issues made Nathan realize how little legislators cared about the opinions of vote-less women and so Nathan became more involved in suffrage activities. In 1908, Nathan published a pamphlet entitled ''The Wage Earner and the Ballot'' which pointed out that in suffrage states the age of consent was higher, the illiteracy rate was lower, women were paid more for civil service jobs, and there were stronger child labor laws.
Maud Nathan Papers.
http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Maud 1862 births 1946 deaths American pacifists American social workers American suffragists American community activists Community building 19th-century Sephardi Jews 20th-century Sephardi Jews American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Jewish feminists American Sephardic Jews Education activists Activists from New York City Jewish suffragists
social worker
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
, labor activist and suffragist
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 ...
for women's right to vote.
Early life
She was born on October 20, 1862, to aNew 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 ...
Sephardic Jewish family. Her mother was Annie Augusta and her father was Robert Weeks Nathan. She came from a prominent 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 ...
family, descended from Gershom Mendes Seixas
Gershom Mendes Seixas (January 15, 1745 – July 2, 1816) was the first native-born Jewish religious leader in the United States. An American Patriot, he served as the hazzan of Congregation Shearith Israel, New York City's first Spanish and Portu ...
, minister of New York's Congregation Sherith Israel during the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. Nathan was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence.
A non-profit group, they promote ...
.
Her sister was the author and education activist Annie Nathan Meyer
Annie Nathan Meyer (February 19, 1867 – September 23, 1951) was an American author, an anti-suffragist, and a promoter of higher education for women who founded Barnard College. Her sister was the activist Maud Nathan and her nephew the autho ...
, the founder of Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
. Her cousins are the poet Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet "The New Colossus", which was inspired ...
and Supreme Court Justice
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme ...
Benjamin Cardozo
Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's th ...
. Her nephew was the author and poet Robert Nathan
Robert Gruntal Nathan (January 2, 1894 – May 25, 1985) was an American novelist and poet.
Biography
Nathan was born into a prominent New York Sephardic family. He was educated in the United States and Switzerland and attended Harvard Univ ...
. She and her family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
, for four years. Maud finished her high school education there. The family moved back to 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 ...
after the death of Maud's mother in 1878.
On April 7, 1880, seventeen-year-old Maud Nathan married her first cousin Frederick Nathan.
Career
As a young married woman, Nathan became involved in charity work. She was named director at both the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Free School. Along withJosephine Shaw Lowell
Josephine Shaw Lowell (December 16, 1843 – October 12, 1905) was a Progressive Reform leader in the United States in the Nineteenth century. She is best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890.
Seth Low's biographer descri ...
, Nathan was a founding member of the New York Consumer's League. The group supported an eight-hour workday for women and children and supported the Working Women's Society in publicizing shops which treated workers fairly.
The death of her daughter, Annette Florance Nathan, at the age of 8 in 1895 brought out a change in Nathan. Josephine Shaw Lowell
Josephine Shaw Lowell (December 16, 1843 – October 12, 1905) was a Progressive Reform leader in the United States in the Nineteenth century. She is best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890.
Seth Low's biographer descri ...
, founder of the New York Consumers League suggested that Nathan work up an interest in the issues of working women 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 ...
, as a way to get over the loss of her child. This was the initial start of Nathan's career in helping women.http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/nathan-maud Jewish Women's Archive
In 1897, Nathan became president of the New York Consumer's League. When the National Consumer's League was created in 1898, Nathan become a member of its executive committee. In 1901, the Consumer League of Rhode Island was organized after Maud Nathan gave a speech in the state.
Lobbying Albany on consumer issues made Nathan realize how little legislators cared about the opinions of vote-less women and so Nathan became more involved in suffrage activities. In 1908, Nathan published a pamphlet entitled ''The Wage Earner and the Ballot'' which pointed out that in suffrage states the age of consent was higher, the illiteracy rate was lower, women were paid more for civil service jobs, and there were stronger child labor laws.
See also
*Progressivism
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...
Notes
External links
Maud Nathan Papers.
http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Maud 1862 births 1946 deaths American pacifists American social workers American suffragists American community activists Community building 19th-century Sephardi Jews 20th-century Sephardi Jews American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent Jewish feminists American Sephardic Jews Education activists Activists from New York City Jewish suffragists