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Emma Goldman, 1869-1940
Born Kovno (now Kaunas), Lithuania
A charismatic labor and feminist activist, Emma Goldman advocated for "direct action, the open defiance of, and resistance to, all laws and restrictions, economic, social, and moral." Emigrating from Russia in 1885, she worked in a Rochester, New York, sweatshop, an experience that inspired her to organize against those whom she perceived as exploitative. During the explosive 1890s, as anarchism and other forms of radicalism flourished, she led strikes, boycotts, and acts of civil disobedience, and was frequently arrested or harassed by authorities. In 1906 she and her lover and political partner Alexander Berkman founded Mother Earth, a monthly magazine devoted to various anarchist causes. During the Red Scare of 1919, American officials deported Goldman, and she spent much of the rest of her life living in exile in Europe. This photograph by California modernist Margrethe Mather was likely taken during one of Goldman's frequent lecture tours.
Margrethe Mather, c 1915 |