Basic Information

Lillie Blake was an American author born in Raleigh, North Carolina. Blake wrote under a pseudonym, Tiger Lily, under which she published five novels after her first husband’s passing. After meeting her second husband, Blake become involved in the New York State Suffrage Association where she then became president. She also attempted to succeed Susan B. Anthony as president of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

Background Information

Lillie Devereux Blake was born Elizabeth Johnson Devereux in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 12, 1833. She lived in luxury in New Haven, Connecticut after her father’s death in 1837. She had private education/tutors and was very active in the social affairs of New Haven. She then married her first husband, Frank Umsted in 1855. They had two daughters in the four years they were married. Frank died in May 1859 leaving Blake and their two girls penniless. This is when Blake turned to writing, which was one of her passions. She wrote five novels in the span of seven years. In 1866, she met her second husband, Grinfill Blake. After marring Grinfill, Blake turned to the suffrage movement which was another passion of hers. She is known as an “American novelist, essayist, and reformer whose early career as a writer of fiction was succeeded by a zealous activism on behalf of woman suffrage.” (Britannica, 2022). After a long fight for women suffrage, Blake died on December 30, 1913.

Contributions to the First Wave

Lillie Blake started her focused contribution to the First Wave in 1869 at the age of 35. She started out as a popular speaker for the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. During her time there, she also used her writing to push the suffrage movement along, writing works such as “Fettered For Life” and “Southwold.” She is included in some  famous works such as the Woman’s Bible. Blake was a natural organizer. Her main cause of work was the working people, mainly women. Blake also soon became president of the Association from 1879 to 1890. During her 11 years as president of the Association she was active in “defeating an anti-suffrage governor, winning the right to vote for rural women at elections of school trustees and getting women accepted as census takers” (Gaylor, n.d. pg.4). She would also hold weekly meetings to host important people in the community such as politicians and publishers. She became the president of the New York City Woman Suffrage League. She held the position from 1886 to 1900. She fought for women’s rights to higher education for her daughters. She also fought for rights of women prisoners stating, “Is it a crime to be a woman?” (Blake,1888).  “An active lobbyist in the legislature, she pled for school suffrage, equality of property rights, women factory inspectors, women physicians in hospitals and insane institutions, and police matrons” (Crabtree,1979, pg.8). These were just a few things Blake fought for in addition to the women’s suffrage movement. In the beginning of Blake’s suffrage career, she looked at Susan B. Anthony with amazement, but after Blake showed interest in other reforms, instead of spending all her energy on suffrage movement, Anthony began acting hostile around Blake. Anthony went as far as to disband a legislative advice committee, all because Blake was the head of the committee. Blake even split the dynamic friendship of Elizabeth Caddy Stanton and Anthony for a period of time when she ran for the NAWSA presidentship. Stanton endorsed Blake while Anthony supported Carrie Chapman Catt. After losing the National American Woman Suffrage Association president seat to Catt, she withdrew her membership and started her own organization, though illness forced her to retire in 1905

“Every denial of education, every refusal of advantages to women, may be traced to this dogma [of original sin], which first began to spread its baleful influence with the rise of the power of the priesthood and the corruption of the early Church.”

~ Lillie Devereux Blake (Gaylor, n.d.)

Analysis and Conclusion

Lillie Devereux Blake did a lot to further the suffrage movement such as advocating for women doctors in mental health wards where women were kept. While she was not one of the forerunners like Elizabeth Caddy Stanton or Susan B. Anthony, she did definitely make an impact on the lives of those around her and even those she indirectly touched. She worked hard for what she believed in and did not stop until she physically could not continue. In the end, the suffrage movement needed the inspiration and determination that Lillie Blake brought with her.

References

Crabtree, B. (1979). Blake, Lillie Devereux | NCpedia. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press https://dev.ncpedia.org/biography/blake-lillie-devereux

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2022, August 8). Lillie Devereux Blake. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lillie-Devereux-Blake

Gaylor, A. (n.d.). Lillie Devereux Blake – Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ffrf.org. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://ffrf.org/ftod-cr/item/14502-lillie-devereux-blake

Lillie Devereux Blake –. (n.d.). Archives of Women’s Political Communication. https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/lillie-devereux-blake/

(For image) Girsch, F. (n.d.). Lillie Devereux Blake, 1835-1913. In Library of Congress. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004671729/