Basic Information
Olympia Brown was born January 05, 1935 in Prairie Ronde, Michigan. She was the first woman to be ordained by full denominational authority in the United States on June 25th, 1863 through New York’s Canton School of Theology. Brown was a significant voice in promoting educational equality amongst men and women with the strong belief that education was paramount to the advancement of women. Reverend Brown was one of few original suffragists who had lived to see their mission through and was afforded the opportunity to vote for the first time in 1920 at the age of 85. She was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1999 (Noble, 2016).
Background Information
Olympia Brown was born to farmers Asa B. and Lephia Olympia Brown. She was the oldest of four children (three daughters and one son), with the family sharing a large cabin on a plot of land which drew the family from their original state of Vermont. During Olympias upbringing, Lephia was the main educator of the household, providing decent education in the subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic; as well as promoting the families faith (Noble, 2016). Upon settlement in Prairie Ronde, Asa B. is credited with gathering the support of the town in order to construct a schoolhouse for all of the children. This upbringing, combined with the Brown family’s heavy focus in Universalist ideology which believed heavily in the equality and dignity of all, set the groundwork for her to develop the perspective necessary to traverse the numerous obstacles that were in her path from early in her life. She faced much adversity in her pursuit to ministry after graduating with a Bachelors of Arts from Antioch College in Ohio in 1860 (Noble, 2001). Capitalizing on these experiences while conceptualizing the struggles of women at the time allowed Brown to develop into the Reverend and activist that would go on to influence the outcome of the feminist movement.
Contributions to the First Wave
Although Reverend Brown was best known for pioneering as a woman in the male dominant religious space, she also made amazing contributions for the cause of women’s suffrage during the first wave of feminism. With the support of her husband John Willis, and the request of suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton for aid in the movement, Brown left her full-time work in order to become a full-time suffragist at the age of 53. Willis became an owner of The Racine Times Newspaper which he used to support the efforts of the suffragists (Noble, 2001). In the summer of 1867, she campaigned through Kansas, which was a state torn by the divides of race and gender in the years leading to the ratification of the fifteenth amendment. Delivering over three hundred speeches with very little support, Brown was credited for embracing street wise tactics, mobilizing demonstrations and holding large vigils to raise support. One such instance came upon a march on the White House of one-thousand suffragists, led by Brown in search of support from President Woodrow Wilson on a proposed amendment in favor of women suffrage. President Wilson rejected the amendment, leading to Browns’ protest of burning his speeches in front of the White House (Noble, 2016). After dedicating the remainder of her life to the cause, she made sure to become involved in any way that she was able. She is recognized as an original member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Brown would go on to serve as the Vice President of the National Woman Suffrage Association while leading the Wisconsin Suffrage Association (Cox, 2004). To ensure the movement was managed to its fullest potential, she held the position as president of the Federal Suffrage Association from 1903 to 1920, with a crowning victory coming after her participation in her final march on that years Republican National Convention which ultimately resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment later that year.
“The grandest thing has been the lifting up of the gates and the opening of the doors to the women of America, giving liberty to twenty-seven million women, thus opening to them a new and larger life and a higher deal”
– (Brown, n.d.)
Analysis and Conclusion
Olympia Brown overcame major obstacles at a time where women were battling for enfranchisement without a glimpse of foreseeable victory. When she began her work it took extreme amounts of fortitude and persistence in order to persevere against such odds (Hanson, 1882). A Universalist framework and an understanding of the importance of a women’s right to education and general autonomy, provided her the tools and determination necessary to become a vital asset to the fight for women’s suffrage. In understanding the necessity of education and economic equality between sexes from a universalist perspective, Brown maintained the focus of the suffrage movement while many suffragists were divided over the passing of the fifteenth amendment which enfranchised Black men before women. It is through her contributions and experiences that one can understand the true resilience that was required to see through the endeavors which suffragists were presented. Leaving behind an established career as a minister in order to devote her life to securing social equality amongst sexes was as selfless of an act that could be carried out by any woman during those years. By relinquishing a position that had only been provided to a single woman at that point, Brown empowered all suffragists to break through arbitrary taboos and stigmas that confined them to gendered roles; ultimately empowering an entire movement through her courageous feats of leadership.
References
Brown, O. (n.d.). Olympia Brown Quote. Retrieved May 17, 2019, from https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1223557
Cox, L. (2004). The Many Faces of Olympia Brown. Starr King School for The Ministry.
Hanson, E. R. H. (1882). Our Woman Workers: Biographical Sketches of Women Eminent in the Universalist Church for Literary, Philanthropic and Christian Work. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044023386907
Noble, L. C. (2001, May 28). Olympia Brown. Retrieved May 17, 2019, from Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography website: http://uudb.org/articles/olympiabrown.html
Noble, L. C. (2016). Olympia Brown: She Dared to Dream. (Biography). Michigan History Magazine, 100(2), 31.
Rev. Mrs. Olympia Brown (1909-1919) National Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016820730/