Basic Information

Matilda Gage was a major player in the suffragette movement and was an advocate for abolition and Native American rights. She has been a forgotten figure who was essential in setting the foundation and pushing forward for women’s rights, as well as Native American rights. Because of her radical and progressive views, she was cast out from the inner circle of the suffragette movement thus removing her from history. Her contributions were essential throughout the first wave including her radical ideas about women’s rights, religion, and racial equality.

Background Information

Matilda Joslyn Gage was born March 5th, 1826 in Cicero, New York. Her parents provided her with a formal education from Clinton Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York (Britannica 2019). She married her husband Henry H. Gage in 1845. She had five children. Her son youngest son Charles died soon after his birth in 1850 (Matilda Joslyn Gage foundation, 2018).

Contributions to the First Wave

Gages contribution to the women’s rights movement has been written out of history. She was incredibly radical and fought against the conservatism of the movement. Gage was one of the leaders of the National Woman Suffrage Association alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She shared the responsibilities of the association as well as editing and publishing The History of Woman Suffrage (Wagner, 2019, p. 2). She was an avid writer and used her writing to spread her message. Her writings include Woman as Inventor, Woman’s Rights Catechism, and The Dangers of the Hour. She made her first public address at the National Woman’s Rights convention in 1869. In the same year she also founded and became vice president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association.

Gage formed her own association, the Women’s National Liberal Union in response to the merger of the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA), and the American Women Suffrage Association because of the conservative ideologies of AWSA (Britannica, 2019). These ideologies included encouraging male officers, supporting the Republican Party,  and simple enfranchisement, while the NWSA discussed other more radical issues regarding marriage and divorce  (Britannica, 2019). Gage was against the merger but was unable to contribute her vote after being pushed out of the decision-making process. Her position as a chairperson on the board of NWSA would have allowed her a vote against the merger. She was not notified and Susan B. Anthony stood in for her (Farrel, 2006, p. 51). She believed that racial issues should be included in the movement and should not just be limited to the issues of white women. Her separation from these groups allowed her to focus on the bigger picture of the movement. Her writings Women, Church, and State, focused on the role that Christianity played in keeping women oppressed as well as the conservative majority that existed within AWSA (Farrel, 2006, p. 54).

Gage’s belief followed the humanistic ideas that mistreatment of any marginalized person was wrong, not just that of the white woman. She spent much of her time researching and understanding the Native American model of a women’s role in society. She also defended the right for Native Americans to be recognized as politically sovereign nations and honor the treaties that had been signed. In 1893 she was given an honorary clan name and was adopted to the Mohawk Nation (Wagner, 2019, p. 2). This honor allowed her to vote amongst the Council of Matrons. This shaped her beliefs that women in Native American societies held much greater power than a white woman. Native Americans were viewed as savages that needed to conform to western culture. So, her ideas that these women were above white western women was a radical idea for the time. She carries the ideas and teachings to western life and tried to educate others of how her experiences in Native American society could help western women.

 

There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven; that word is Liberty.

~ Matilda Joslyn Gage (National Women’s Hall of Fame, 2019)

 

Analysis and Conclusion

In 1900 much of the feminist narrative was controlled by Susan B. Anthony and had been for some time. This included the movements goals as well as its view on the fifteenth amendment. Many of the more controversial women, including Gage were intentionally excluded (Farrell, 2006, p. 54). Toward the end of her life her focus became to speak out on the injustices within the church and how the teachings kept women subordinate. Matilda Joslyn Gage’s fight was bigger than just for women’s right to vote. She sought to rectify injustice for people from all walks. She is admirable for her ability to stick to her beliefs when the movements view became controversial with her own. Gage’s role as a liberal abolitionist and free thinker made her influence so great. Her writings and teachings have great power to this day and are some of the great feminists’ classics. She was part of the foundation for the first wave and deserves her spot in the history books.

References

Farrell, G. (2006). Beneath the Suffrage Narrative. Canadian Review of American Studies, 36(1), 45–65. https://doiorg.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.3138/CRAS-s036-01-03

Matilda Joslyn Gage, -1898.,. [No Date Recorded on Caption Card] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003669989/.

Matilda Joslyn Gage. (2018). The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://matildajoslyngage.org/about-gage.

Matlida Joslyn Gage.(2019)  National Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 11, 2019 https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/matilda-joslyn-gage/

Wagner, S.W. (2019). Women’s Suffrage Movement. Penguin Books.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019, March 21). Matilda Joslyn Gage. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Matilda-Joslyn-Gage.