Harriot Stanton Blatch

The daughter of famous suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriot Stanton Blatch continued her mother’s work in the women’s rights movement.

Synopsis

Born in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1856, Harriot Stanton Blatch was the daughter of famous suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She continued her mother's work in the women's rights movement, founding the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women in 1907. Blatch also ran for public office in the 1920s as a Socialist Party candidate. She died in Connecticut in 1940.

Early Life

Born on January 20, 1856, in Seneca Falls, New York, Harriot Stanton Blatch was an important member of the women's rights movement in the late 1880s. She came by her activism naturally as the daughter of famed suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her father Henry Stanton spent many years working in the abolitionist movement and helped her mother in the fight to win more rights for women. Harriot was the sixth of the couple's seven children.

Blatch received a good education, attending a number of private schools. She went on to Vassar College where she earned a degree in mathematics in 1878. After college, Blatch soon followed in her mother's footsteps to become an important contributor to the women's suffrage movement. She worked with her mother and Susan B. Anthony on the second volume of History of Woman Suffrage. The work, published in 1881, recorded the history of the struggle to win women the right to vote.

Activist and Author

After marrying William Henry Blatch in 1882, Harriot Stanton Blatch spent nearly two decades living in England. While abroad, she was became involved in such social movements as the Fabian Society, a progressive political organization. Blatch also helped in the fight for women's suffrage there as well. She was an associate of famed suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst and a member of the Woman's Suffrage Society. Blatch also continued her studies while living in England. In 1894, she received a master's degree in mathematics from Vassar College for her statistical analysis of English villages.

Blatch returned to the United States in 1902 and once again became involved in the women's rights movement. She founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women in 1907, and Blatch worked hard to bring her friend Emmeline Pankhurst and other British suffragists to speak in the United States. Her organization became known as the Women's Political Union in 1910. In 1916, it merged with Alice Paul's Congressional Union.

During World War I, Harriot Stanton Blatch worked in support of the war effort. She encouraged women to become involved in peace efforts to stave off any new military conflicts in A Woman's Point of View (1920). Blatch also explored a political career with an unsuccessful run for comptroller of the City of New York in 1921 on the Socialist Party ticket. Five years later, she made another attempt for public office—this time for a Senate seat as the Socialist Party's candidate.

Later Years

Blatch spent her final years at a nursing home in Greenwich, Connecticut. She had injured her hip and never quite recovered from her accident. During this time, Blatch worked on one last writing project—her own autobiography. She wrote the book with assistance from Alma Lutz, and her memoir Challenging Years was published in 1940.

That same year, on November 20, 1940, at the age of 84, Harriot Stanton Blatch died in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is remembered for her social and political activism, especially helping women win the right to vote.

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