Matilda Joslyn Gage
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Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898) was a women's suffrage activist and author who was "born with a hatred of oppression". Her childhood was spent in a house which was a station of the underground railroad. She faced prison for her actions under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 which criminalized assistance to escaped slaves.
Gage was considered to be more radical than either Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton (with whom she wrote A History of Woman Suffrage ). She decried the brutal treatment of Native Americans and unsuccessfully tried to prevent the conservative takeover of the women's suffrage movement.
She was the wife of Henry Hill Gage, and mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum.
Like most other early feminists, Gage was an avid opponent of abortion. She wrote in 1868 for the feminist publication The Revolution, supporting the typical feminist view of the time that abortion was a horrible crime, a regrettable tragedy, and an institution supported, dominated and furthered by men.
- "[This] subject lies deeper down in woman's wrongs than any other...I hesitate not to assert that most of [the responsibility for] this crime lies at the door of the male sex."