Ragna Vilhelmine Nielsen (née Ullmann) (17 July 1845 – 29 September 1924) was a Norwegian pedagogue, school headmistress, publicist, organizer, politician and feminist.

Personal life

Ragna Nielsen was born in Christiania (now Oslo) to Jørgen Axel Nicolai Ullmann and his wife, pedagogist, publicist, literary critic and feminist Cathrine Johanne Fredrikke Vilhelmine Dunker. She married Ludvig Nielsen in 1879, and settled with her husband in Tromsø. The couple was separated in 1884, when she moved back to Kristiania. She was the sister of politician

Viggo Ullmann Johan Christian Viggo Ullmann (21 December 1848 – 30 August 1910) was a Norwegian educator and politician with Venstre, the Norwegian social-liberal party. He was the son of the author Vilhelmine Ullmann, brother of the feminist Ragna Niels ...

Career

As a child Ragna attended her mother's school for girls, and then attended

Hartvig Nissen Ole Hartvig Nissen (17 April 1815 – 4 February 1874) was a Norwegian philologist and educator. He founded Nissen's Girls' School in Christiania in 1849. In 1865 he became director-general in the Ministry of Education, while remaining one of t ...

's private school for girls until 1860. From 1862, she received an assignment at Nissen's school, where she taught until 1879. She was a teacher in Tromsø until 1884. She established the school in Kristiania in 1885. It was started as a girls' school, but soon became a common school for both girls and boys. She was the first headmistress of a secondary school ( no, gymnas) in Norway. She chaired the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

for two periods, from 1886 to 1888, and from 1889 to 1895. She founded or co-founded a number of organizations, including in 1885, in 1890, in 1891, and '' Hjemmenes Vel'' in 1898. She was elected to the Kristiania City Council from 1901 to 1904. She co-founded the language organization Riksmålsforeningen in 1907, and chaired the organization from 1909 to 1910. She was engaged in the

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

movement and a co-founder of in 1917. She co-founded the women's magazine in 1921. Among her books are from 1904, from 1907 (published anonymously), and from 1922.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Ragna Norwegian women's rights activists 1845 births 1924 deaths Schoolteachers from Oslo Norwegian feminists 19th-century Norwegian educators 20th-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian educators Women school principals and headteachers Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people 19th-century women educators 20th-century women educators Politicians from Oslo