Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898) was a radical feminist of the 19th century. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the trio were known as the triumvirate, but due to the turns of history you might not know her name.
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898) was a radical feminist of the 19th century. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the trio were known as the triumvirate, but due to the turns of history you might not know her name.
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History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Michelle Monaghan. And this is Womanica.
This month, we’re highlighting innovators–women who helped shape the world we live in today–from inventors to thinkers.
Today, we’re talking about one of the radical feminists of the 19th century. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the trio were known as the triumvirate. But–due to the turns of history–you might not know her name. Let’s welcome Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Matilda Electa Joslyn was born in Cicero, New York, on March 24th, 1826. Her parents were Dr. Hezekiah and Helen Josyln, abolitionists who believed in educating their daughter, though it was uncommon at the time.
The Joslyn home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1845, Matilda married Henry H. Gage and their home also became a station on the Underground Railroad.
In 1852, Matilda spoke at the National Women’s Rights Convention in Syracuse. From there, she quickly cemented her place in the women’s rights movement. Matilda co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, or the NWSA, alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Its goal was to secure a federal women’s suffrage amendment to the Constitution.
Matilda’s methods were direct. While she worked as an editor for suffrage publications and organized the group’s work, she was better known for her protests. In 1871, for example, she organized several women in her town to attempt to vote. Each time they were turned away, she would return with more volunteers. As she wrote in a letter to a friend, she was refused for being a married woman. So, she brought along two single women to vote. When they were turned away, Matilda brought along a pair of war widows. She continued the pattern until she’d exhausted every possible excuse, and made a scene each time.
On July 4th, 1876, the Triumvirate crashed the US Centennial Exposition, also known as the first World’s Fair, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Matilda and Susan B. Anthony presented their most encompassing work to date: The Declaration of the Rights of Women. It outlined their grievances as citizens without full rights in the country, likening their oppression by men to that of American colonies under King George the Third.
Still, Matilda wasn’t satisfied. She saw another threat to women’s suffrage that other feminist leaders, Elizabeth and Susan included, refused to engage with: the church. She openly criticized Christianity, calling its relationship to women “the most stupendous system of organized robbery.” She argued the church stripped women of self-respect, opportunities for education, exercise of her own judgment, conscience, and will.
Her anti-religious nature put Matilda at odds with other feminist leaders. At the 30th anniversary of the Seneca Falls convention, a series of resolutions was adopted including three written by Matilda. Of those, one especially contentious resolution accused religion of, “playing upon [women’s] hopes and fears of the future,” and subjugating her and her children to “priestcraft and superstition."
After the convention, both Matilda’s own organization and the less-radical American Woman Suffrage Association, also known as AWSA, objected to the resolution. The New York World even criticized them as "illustration of the evil tendencies of the Woman’s Rights movement."
Matilda was one of the most outspoken voices in feminist causes– but it was often that same outspoken nature that excluded her from mainstream movements. In 1880, after New York State had allowed women to run and vote in school board elections, Matilda’s hometown voting protest went off without a hitch– every single woman got to vote. But that same year, Elizabeth and Susan gave an interview for one of the triumvirate’s publications, The History of Woman Suffrage, and left Matilda out as a contributor and activist. When the book was actually published, Matilda also realized her own chapters had been edited to minimize her efforts.
In 1890, the NWSA merged with the conservative AWSA. In protest, Matilda left and founded her own anti-church organization called the Woman’s National Liberal Union. Though her opening convention attracted significant press, Matilda was unable to keep the group going. Over the years, her financial situation had become increasingly dire.
In 1893, Matilda published her own work called “Woman, Church, and State,” which developed her thoughts on women and religion. It made a definite splash– she even received a fan letter from Leo Tolstoy.
Throughout her life, Matilda was also a staunch abolitionist and supporter of Native American rights. She openly criticized the US government’s failure to respect treaties. She wrote about different forms of government she admired, specifically the matriarchal power of clan matrons in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In 1893, the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation offered her an honorary adoption.
Matilda continued working up until her death in 1898, at the age of 71. Her absence in modern accounts of the suffrage movement inspired a term called the “Matilda effect.” It refers to a social situation where women scientists receive less credit for their work than an actual, objective examination of their efforts would reveal.
Although Matilda’s name is often missing from history books, her impact is incredibly wide-ranging. Towards the end of her life, she may have influenced her son-in-law, L. Frank Baum, who would go on to write The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It’s possible that Matilda’s ideas influenced his writing of a world ruled by women, especially witches, in a nod to “Woman, Church, and State.” He also championed critical thinking over worship, as exemplified when Toto pulls back the curtain on the Wizard to reveal the normal man behind it.
Matilda’s ashes rest in Fayetteville Cemetery. Her tombstone reads one of her lifelong mottos: “There is a word sweeter than mother, home, or heaven—that word is liberty.”
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Special thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host today’s episode.
Talk to you tomorrow!