For Ladies’s Historical past Month, I wished to focus on Victoria Woodhull, who wrote a letter to the New York Herald in 1870 asserting that she was working for president. On the time, ladies weren’t allowed to vote, however there have been no legal guidelines in opposition to launching a presidential marketing campaign — maybe as a result of nobody might have imagined {that a} girl ever would.
Woodhull was a passionate suffragist who has principally been forgotten by historical past. The suffragists of her time saved their distance as a result of she had different “scandalous” views they did not need to tarnish their trigger. She was additionally a divorced girl with a controversial previous, as a Spiritualist clairvoyant and the daughter of a conman who had roped his household into quite a few prison schemes.
Nonetheless, as somebody who went from uneducated bumpkin to one of many richest and most controversial folks of her period, and somebody who was not afraid to take motion in opposition to injustices, and who went from riches again to rags with a purpose to promote her concepts for a greater nation, she ought to face amongst probably the most iconic Individuals in historical past.
Jackie Lay works on the Visuals group at NPR. She’s an animator and illustrator who has been printed at The Atlantic, Vox and The Washington Put up. Discover extra of her work on-line, at JackieLay.com.
