Mary Madden Lilly (July 18, 1859 in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...

– October 11, 1930 in

Brooklyn 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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) was a

Progressive era The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...

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 ...

who had a prominent role 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 ...

's social reform movements during the last decades of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century. In particular, Lilly supported

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes ...

in the form of separate facilities for females who were first time offenders. Lilly was an advocate for

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 other legislation to better the lives of women and children. After women gained the right to vote in New York in 1917, Lilly ran for elected office in the November 1918 election, and was one of two females elected to serve in the 1919 session of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

Family and early life

Mary married John F. Lilly. Mary and John Lilly were the parents of J. Joseph Lilly, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY. Lilly graduated from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

teachers' school in 1876 and took a job teaching in the New York City public school system. While still teaching school, she attended

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...

on a full scholarship, reported to be the first grant earned by a woman by taking a competitive exam. In 1895, Lilly was one of ten women in a class of seventy law students to receive her

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

degree.

Early career

Public school teacher

Lilly graduated from

teachers school in 1876 when still a teen, and took a job teaching at P.S. 37 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In total, Lilly worked as a public school teacher for thirty-six years until she retired. Lilly joined The Association of Retired Teachers of the City of New York and held the position of secretary.

Suffragist

Attended the Seneca Fall Conference sponsored by the Women's Party to commemorate the Women's Rights Convention of 1848.

Community civic groups

Lilly belonged to and founded civic groups that advocated for social and political reforms. She was a member of The Society for the Aid to Mental Defectives and was the editor of its Journal. She was a Founder of The Knickerbocker Civic League and served as its president. Additionally, Lilly was member of the political organization, The Women's Democratic Club.

New York City Federation of Women's Clubs

Lilly was the recording secretary and the Chairwomen of the Probation Committee of the City Federation of Women's Clubs. Through her affiliation with the Federation, in 1913 she worked to establish the Kingsboro House, a detention home for young women first offenders in

Later careers

Law practice

Lilly was editor of the ''Women Lawyers' Journal'' from 1915 to 1916. For a brief time Lilly had a joint law practice with Eve P. Radtke who was admitted to bar in 1906.

Political career

After women gained the right to vote in New York in 1917, she ran at the New York state election, 1918 for the

(New York Co., 7th D.). Along with Ida B. Sammis, Lilly was one of the first two New York assemblywomen, sitting in the

142nd New York State Legislature The 142nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to June 16, 1919, during the first year of Al Smith's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the provisions of ...

in 1919.

New York State Assemblywoman

Lily sponsored a number of bills regarding children. She introduced legislation to establish paternity of children born out of wedlock, to protect the rights for children, and worked to abolish the death penalty. Late in Lilly's re-election campaign for her seat in the New York State Assembly, The Citizens Union charged that Lilly as an assemblywomen and superintendent of the women prisoners on Blackwell's Island drew two salaries contrary to state law. Lilly answered the charge by asserting that she was assured by her counsel that she had the right to accept a job with the City of New York while employed in a public office with the state.

Superintendent of inmates

In 1919 Lilly was appointed as the superintendent of female inmates at the Workhouse on Blackwell's Island. By the time that Lilly retired in 1928, she had worked under three Commissioners: James A. Hamilton, Frederick A. Wallis and Richard C. Patterson.

Later life and death

Lilly's residence for many years was Hotel St. Andrew. Lilly died on October 11, 1930 at the home of her son in Brooklyn after a brief illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilly, Mary 1859 births 1930 deaths Activists from New York (state) American suffragists Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly People from Manhattan Women state legislators in New York (state)