August 4: Ernestine L. Rose

Feminist abolitionist Ernestine L. Rose died in England on this date in 1892 at the age of 82. She was from a traditional Jewish family in Poland and evaded an arranged marriage by suing her rabbi father in court. Rose was one of the first women to lecture publicly in the United States (to which she came in 1836), on such topics as the abolition of slavery, public education, and equality and voting rights for women. It was largely due to her activism that New York State granted married women property rights in 1848, the first state to do so. Elected president of the National Women’s Rights Convention in 1854 (despite objections to her atheism), Rose was a close and inspiring collaborator to such feminist pioneers as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Sojourner Truth. She was also an early “aroma therapy” pioneer who developed a room deodorizer and sold perfume.

“Emancipation from every kind of bondage is my principle.” —Ernestine Rose