Humanities History & Culture Unitarian and Universalist Women Writing Liberal Religious Women Back Into History Share Flipboard Email Print Antoinette Brown Blackwell. From History of Woman Suffrage, Stanton et al History & Culture Women's History Important Figures History of Feminism Key Events & Milestones Women's Suffrage Women & War Laws & Women's Rights Feminism & Pop Culture Feminist Texts American History African American History African History Ancient History & Culture Asian History European History Genealogy Inventions Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century View More by Jone Johnson Lewis Updated May 16, 2017 Many Unitarian and Universalist women were among the activists who worked for women's rights; others were leaders in the arts, humanities, politics and other fields. The list below is fairly extensive and includes women from before the Unitarian and Universalist movements merged as well as afterwards, and also includes some women from neighboring movements including Ethical Culture.Listed in order of their birth years. American unless otherwise indicated. Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672 Nonconformistpoet, writer; descendents include Unitarians William Ellery Channing, Wendell Phillips, Oliver Wendell HolmesAnna Laetitia Aiken Barbauld 1743-1825 Unitarian (British)activist, poetJudith Sargent Murray 1751-1820 Universalistpoet and author; wrote essay on feminism: "On the Equality of the Sexes" in 1790 (Rossi, 1973)Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797 Unitarian; married Unitarian ministerauthor, wrote Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792) and Maria or the Wrongs of Woman; mother of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author.Mary Moody Emerson 1774-1863 Unitarianwriter; many of her unpublished writings foreshadow the ideas of her nephew, Ralph Waldo EmersonMaria Cook 1779-1835 Universalistjailed after preaching UniversalismLucy Barnes 1780-1809 UniversalistUniversalist writer, poetEliza Lee Cabot Follen 1787-1860 Unitarianchildren's author, abolitionist; she, with husband Charles Follen, Harvard German instructor, introduced the Christmas tree custom to America Eliza Farrar 1791-1870 Quaker, Unitarianchildren's author, abolitionistLucretia Mott 1793-1880 Quaker, Free Religious Associationreformer: abolition, feminism, peace, temperance, liberal religion; cousin of Phebe Hanaford (also on this list)Frederika Bremer 1801-1865 Unitarian (Swedish)novelist, feminist, pacifist Harriet Martineau 1802-1876 British Unitarianwriter, social critic, journalist, feministLydia Maria Child 1802-1880 Unitarianauthor, abolitionist, reformer; wrote An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans and "Over the River and Through the Woods"Dorothea Dix 1802-1887 Unitarianmental health reformer, prison reformer, poetElizabeth Palmer Peabody 1804-1894 Unitarian, Transcendentalist(teacher, author, reformer; sister to Mary Peabody Mann and Sophia Peabody Hawthorne (both also on this list); close associate of William Ellery ChanningSarah Flower Adams 1805-1848 Unitarian (British)hymn writer: "Nearer My God to Thee"Mary Tyler Peabody Mann 1806-1887 Unitarianeducator; sister to Elizabeth Palmer Peabody and Sophia Peabody Hawthorne (both on this list), married to Horace MannMaria Weston Chapman 1806-1885 UnitarianabolitionistMary Carpenter 1807-1877 Unitarian (British)abolitionist, teacher, juvenile justice reformerSophia Peabody Hawthorne 1809-1871 Unitarianauthor and writer; sister to Elizabeth Parker Peabody and Mary Peabody Mann (both also on this list), married to Nathaniel HawthorneFanny Kemble 1809-1893 Unitarian (British)poet, Shakespearean actress; author of Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-39 Margaret Fuller 1810-1850 Unitarian, TranscendentalistAmerican writer, journalist, and philosopher; friend of Ralph Waldo EmersonElizabeth Gaskell 1810-1865 Unitarianwriter, reformer, wife of Unitarian minister William GaskellEllen Sturgis Hooper 1812-1848 Transcendentalist Unitarianpoet, sister of Caroline Sturgis Tappan (also on this list)Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815-1902 Unitariansuffragist, organizer, writer, co-author of The Woman's Bible, mother of Harriot Stanton Blatch (also on this list)Lydia Moss Bradley 1816-1908 Unitarian and Universalisteducator, philanthropist, founded Bradley UniversityCharlotte Saunders Cushman 1816-1876 UnitarianactorLucy N. Colman 1817-1906 Universalistabolitionist, feminist, freethinkerLucy Stone 1818-1893 Unitarianfeminist, suffragist, abolitionist; married Henry Brown Blackwell whose sisters were Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell (both on this list) and whose brother Samuel Blackwell married Antoinette Brown Blackwell (also on this list); mother of Alice Stone Blackwell (also on this list) Sallie Holley 1818-1893 Unitarianabolitionist, educatorMaria Mitchell 1818-1889 UnitarianastronomerCaroline Sturgis Tappan 1819-1868 Transcendentalist Unitarianpoet, children's author, sister of Ellen Sturgis Hooper (also on this list)Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 Unitarian, Free Religious Associationwriter, poet, abolitionist, social reformer; author of Battle Hymn of the Republic; promoter of Mother's Day for Peace; mother of Laura E. Richards and married to Samuel Gridley Howe, founder of the Perkins School for the Blind, researcherLydia Pinkham 1819-1883 Universalist (eclectic)patent medicine inventor, businesswoman, advertising writer, advice columnistFlorence Nightingale 1820-1910 British Unitariannurse; founded nursing as a modern profession; mathematician: invented the pie chartMary Ashton Rice Livermore 1820-1905lecturer,suffragist, temperance advocate, helped organize Civil War Sanitary CommissionSusan Brownell Anthony 1820-1906 Unitarian and Quakerreformer, suffragist)Alice Cary1820-1871 Universalistauthor, poet, abolitionist, suffragist; sister of Phoebe Cary (also on this list)Clara Barton 1821-1912 UniversalistAmerican Red Cross founderElizabeth Blackwell 1821-1910 Unitarian and Episcopalianphysician, sister of Emily Blackwell, sister of Samuel Blackwell who was married to Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and of Henry Blackwell, married to Lucy Stone (Emily Blackwell, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and Lucy Stone are on this list)Caroline Wells Healey Dall 1822-1912 Unitarian reformer, authorFrances Power Cobbe 1822-1904 Unitarian (British)feminist, anti-vivisectionistElizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz 1822-1907 Unitarianscientist, author, educator, first president of Radcliffe College; married to Louis AgassizSarah Hammond Palfrey 1823-1914writer; daughter of John Gorham PalfreyPhoebe Cary 1824-1871 Universalistpoet, abolitionist, suffragist; sister of Alice Cary (also on this list)Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney 1824-1904 Universalist, Unitarian, Free Religious Associationcivil rights activist, suffragist, editor, speakerAntoinette Brown Blackwell 1825-1921 Congregational and Unitarian ministerminister, author, lecturer: possibly the first woman ordained as a Protestant minister in the US by a "recognized denomination"; later married Samuel Blackwell, brother of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell and of Henry Blackwell who was married to Lucy Stone (Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell and Lucy Stone are on this list)Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825-1911 Unitarianwriter, poet, abolitionist, feminist, temperance advocateEmily Blackwell 1826-1910 Unitarianphysician, sister of Elizabeth Blackwell, of Samuel Blackwell who was married to Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and of Henry Blackwell who was married to Lucy Stone (Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Antoinette brown Blackwell are on this list)Matilda Joslyn Gage 1826-1898 Unitariansuffragist, reformer; her daughter Maud married L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. Gage retained her membership in the Baptist church; later became a Theosophist. [picture] Maria Cummins 1827-1866 UnitarianauthorBarbara Bodichon 1827-1891 Unitarian (British)artist, landscape watercolorist; writer, cofounder of Griton college; feminist activistPhebe Ann Coffin Hanaford 1829-1921 Universalistminister, author, poet, suffragist; cousin of Lucretia Mott (also on this list)Abigail May Williams 1829-1888Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 Transcendentalistpoet; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Unitarian minister, was an important figure in her careerHelen Hunt Jackson 1830-1885 Transcendentalistauthor; proponent of Indian rights; no church connection as an adultLouisa May Alcott 1832-1888 Transcendentalistauthor, poet; best known for Little WomenJane Andrews 1833-1887 Unitarianeducator, children's authorRebecca Sophia Clarke 1833 -1906 Unitarianchildren's authorAnnie Adams Field 1834-1915 Unitarianauthor, literary hostess, charity worker; married to James Fields, editor of the Atlantic; after his death lived with Sarah Orne Jewitt, authorOlympia Brown 1835-1926 Universalistminister, suffragistAugusta Jane Chapin 1836-1905 Universalistminister, activist; one of the chief organizers of the Parliament of the World's Religions, 1893, especially of participation of many women of a variety of faiths in this eventAda C. Bowles 1836-1928 Universalistsuffragist, abolitionist, temperance supporter, home economistFanny Baker Ames 1840-1931 Unitariancharity organizer; suffragist, teacher; leader of the Unitarian Women's Auxiliary ConferenceCharlotte Champe Stearns Eliot 1843-1929 Unitarianauthor, reformer; father-in-law was William Greenleaf Eliot, Unitarian minister and founder of Washington University, St. Louis; son was T.S. Eliot, poetEliza Tupper Wilkes 1844-1917Universalist and Unitarian ministerEmma Eliza Bailey 1844-1920 UniversalistUniversalist minister)Celia Parker Woolley 1848-1919 Unitarian, Free Religious Associationminister,social reformerIda Husted Harper 1851-1931 Unitarianjournalist, historian and biographer and press expert for the woman suffrage movementAnna Garlin Spencer 1851-1931 Free Religious Associationminister, writer, educator, NAACP founder, social reformer; also wife of Unitarian minister William B. Spencer; though Spencer was associated with Unitarian, Universalist, and Ethical Culture congregations, she identified with the broader "free religion"Mary Augusta Safford 1851-1927 UnitarianministerEleanor Elizabeth Gordon 1852-1942 UnitarianministerMaud Howe Elliott 1854-1948 Unitarianauthor, social reformer; daughter of Julia Ward Howe (also on this list)Maria Baldwin 1856-1922 Unitarianeducator, reformer, first African American woman principalHarriot Stanton Blatch 1856-1940 Unitariansuffragist; daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (also on this list)Alice Stone Blackwell 1857-1950 Unitariansuffragist, reformer; daughter of Lucy Stone (also on this list) and Henry Brown BlackwellFannie Farmer 1857-1915 Unitarian (and Universalist?)cookbook author, teacher of cooking and dietetics; first to write recipes wit exact measurementsIda C. Hultin 1858-1938 Unitarian and Universalistminister; spoke at 1893 Parliament of the World's ReligionsCaroline Julia Bartlett Crane 1858-1935 Unitarianminister, social reformer, sanitation reformerCarrie Clinton Chapman Catt 1859-1947 Unitarian connectionssuffragist, pacifist, founder of League of Women VotersEllen Gates Starr 1859-1940 Unitarian roots, converted to Roman Catholicismco-founder of Hull House, labor activist, SocialistCharlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman 1860-1935 Unitarian(feminist, speaker, author of Herland, "The Yellow Wallpaper")Jane Addams 1860-1935 Presbyteriansocial reformer, settlement house founder; author of Twenty Years at Hull House; attended All Souls' Unitarian Church in Chicago and the Ethical Culture Society in Chicago for many years; was briefly an Interim Lecturer at the Ethical Society; retained her membership in a Presbyterian congregationFlorence Buck 1860-1925 Unitarianminister, religious educator, writerKate Cooper Austin1864-1902 Universalist, freethinkerfeminist, anarchist, writerAlice Ames Winter 1865-1944 UnitarianWoman's Club leader, author; daugher of Fanny Baker Ames (also on this list)Beatrix Potter 1866-1943 Unitarian (British)artist, author; wrote Peter Rabbit seriesEmily Greene Balch 1867-1961 Unitarian, Quaker1946 Nobel Prize for Peace; economist, pacifist, a founder of the Women's International League for Peace and FreedomKatherine Philips Edson 1870-1933 Unitariansuffragist, reformer, labor arbitrator(Sara) Josephine Baker 1873-1945 Unitarianhealth reformer, physician, public health administratorAmy Lowell 1874-1925 UnitarianpoetEdna Madison McDonald Bonser 1875-1949 Universalistminister, religious educator; first woman minister in IllinoisClara Cook Helvie 1876-1969ministerSophia Lyon Fahs 1876-1978 Unitarian Universalistreligious educator, ministerIda Maud Cannon 1877-1960 Unitariansocial worker; known as founder of medical social workMargaret Sanger 1883-1966birth control advocate, social reformerMarjorie M. Brown 1884-1987 Unitarian(uthor, Lady in BoomtownMaja V. Capek 1888-1966 Unitarian (Czechoslovakian)Unitarian minister; helped create the Flower Communion and introduce it to Unitarians in America and EuropeMargaret Barr 1897? - 1973 Unitarian (British)educator, administrator, helped create Unitarian church movement in Khasi Hills, India; friend of GandhiMay Sarton 1912-1995 Unitarian Universalistpoet, authorSylvia PlathpoetMalvina Reynoldssongwriter, folksingerFrances Moore Lappeauthor, nutritionist, activist: wrote Diet for a Small PlanetJewel Graham Unitarian Universalistsocial welfare educator; President, World YWCA citecite this article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Unitarian and Universalist Women." ThoughtCo, May. 16, 2017, thoughtco.com/unitarian-and-universalist-women-3530635. Lewis, Jone Johnson. (2017, May 16). Unitarian and Universalist Women. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/unitarian-and-universalist-women-3530635 Lewis, Jone Johnson. 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