Paulina Wright Davis ( Kellogg; August 7, 1813 – August 24, 1876) was an American abolitionist,
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 ...
, and educator. She was one of the founders of the
New England Woman Suffrage Association The New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) was established in November 1868 to campaign for the right of women to vote in the U.S. Its principal leaders were Julia Ward Howe, its first president, and Lucy Stone, who later became president. ...
.
Early life
Davis was born in
Bloomfield, New York
Bloomfield is a village in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 1,361 at the 2010 census.
The Village of Bloomfield is in the Town of East Bloomfield and is west of Canandaigua.
History
The village was part of the Ph ...
to Captain Ebenezer Kellogg and Polly ( Saxton) Kellogg. The family moved to the frontier near
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
in 1817. Both her parents died, and she went to live with her aunt in 1820 in
Le Roy, New York. She joined the Presbyterian church, although she found it hostile to outspoken women. She wanted to become a missionary, but the church did not allow single women to become missionaries.
Later life
Davis married Francis Wright in 1833, who was a merchant from a prosperous family from
Utica, New York
Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...
.
They had similar values and both resigned from their church to protest its pro-slavery stance, and they served on the executive committee of the Central New York Anti-Slavery Society. In 1835, Davis and her husband organized an anti-slavery convention in Utica. They also supported women's rights reforms, associating with
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and
Ernestine Rose
Ernestine Louise Rose (January 13, 1810 – August 4, 1892) was a suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker who has been called the “first Jewish feminist.” Her career spanned from the 1830s to the 1870s, making her a contemporary to the mor ...
. During this period, Davis studied women's health. Francis Wright died in 1845, and the couple had no children.
Davis moved to New York to study medicine following her husband's death. In 1846, she gave lectures on anatomy and physiology to women only.
She imported a medical mannequin and toured the eastern United States teaching women and urging them to become physicians. In 1849, she married
Thomas Davis, a Democrat from
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
, and they adopted two daughters.
In 1850, Davis started to focus her energies on women's rights. She stopped lecturing and helped to arrange the first
National Women's Rights Convention
The National Women's Rights Convention was an annual series of meetings that increased the visibility of the early women's rights movement in the United States. First held in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the National Women's Rights Convention ...
in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
, at which she presided and delivered the opening address In her speech, she argued that women were not being afforded the constitutional protections of equal protection and due process, and that they were treated as a "disabled caste" by the government.
She was president of the National Woman's Rights Central Committee from 1850 to 1858. In 1853, she began editing the women's newspaper ''
The Una
''The Una'' was one of the first feminist periodicals owned, written, and edited entirely by women. Launched in Providence, Rhode Island by Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis in February 1853, it eventually relocated to Boston. "Out of great heart of ...
'',
handing over the responsibility to
Caroline Healey Dall
Caroline Wells Dall ( Healey; June 22, 1822 – December 17, 1912) was an American feminist writer, transcendentalist, and reformer. She was affiliated with the National Women's Rights Convention, the New England Women's Club, and the American S ...
in 1855.
Davis was one of the founders of the
New England Woman Suffrage Association The New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) was established in November 1868 to campaign for the right of women to vote in the U.S. Its principal leaders were Julia Ward Howe, its first president, and Lucy Stone, who later became president. ...
in 1868. When the group splintered, she and Susan B. Anthony became involved in 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 ...
.
In 1870, she arranged the twentieth anniversary of the Women's Suffrage Movement meeting and published ''The History of the National Woman's Rights Movement''.
Death and honors
Davis died on August 24, 1876, in Providence, Rhode Island, seventeen days after her 63rd birthday, and was eulogized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
She was inducted into the
National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
In 2003, she was inducted into the
Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was established in the State of Rhode Island in 1965. Its mission statement states that the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame "exists to honor and recognize, and to extol and publicize the achievements of th ...
, along with her second husband, Thomas Davis.
See also
*
List of suffragists and suffragettes
This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the public ...
*
Married Women's Property Acts in the United States
*
Timeline of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage – the right of women to vote – has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. In many nations, women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, so women and men from certain classes or races w ...
*
Women's suffrage organizations
References
Further reading
* Lederman, S. H. Davis, "Paulina Kellogg Wright". ''American National Biography Online'', Feb. 2000.
* Wayne, Tiffany K. ''Woman Thinking: Feminism and Transcendentalism in Nineteenth-Century America''. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Paulina Kellogg Wright
1813 births
1876 deaths
Activists from New York (state)
American abolitionists
American editors
American suffragists
American women's rights activists
Educators from New York (state)
19th-century American women educators
People from East Bloomfield, New York
People from Le Roy, New York
People from Providence, Rhode Island
19th-century American educators
Women civil rights activists