LADIES WERE NOT EXPECTED: Abigail Scott Duniway & Women's Rights

by Dorothy Nafus Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1977

Abigail Scott's mother wept bitterly when she was born a girl, and later when her mother died on the way to Oregon, Abigail couldn't forget that her father had forced the move from Illinois on his powerless wife. Abigail's own marriage was different: she passed up her claim to the customary free land for brides (it made too many men marry for greed), had the word ""obey"" deleted from the marriage service, and after her husband was injured at work she joyfully supported the family by taking in boarders, teaching (though she'd never been to school herself), selling hats, and finally running her own newspaper--while he kept house. (There were six children.) With her paper Abigail also took up the cause of women's suffrage. She campaigned through the Northwest alone and with Susan B. Anthony, and in 1912, after a 41-year fight, became the first Oregon woman to register to vote. Morrison tells her story conscientiously, though with no particular verve-making another early feminist accessible for biography reports.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION