"I think I was born with a hatred of oppression...."
This illuminating phrase, included in a speech to the International Council of Women in 1888, was uttered by Matilda Joslyn Gage. She was a leading but sometimes forgotten feminist, who stood for gender equality alongside Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
What made her distinct and separate from other leading feminists was her outspoken opposition to Christian theology. She believed it caused the downfall of women in western civilizations. Churches had published doctrines of obedience to authority, women's subordination to man, and woman's responsibility for original sin. Churches were the "stronghold of woman's oppression," she wrote.
Her bold attacks on Christian theology separated her from feminists who were concentrating solely on the right to vote. She was in turn attacked by theologians speaking from the pulpit and writing in the press.When freed black men were given the constitutional right to vote after the Civil War, the suffrage movement went into high gear. Susan B. Anthony led the way when she attempted to vote and was arrested.
Gage defended American Indians in connection with the unjust treatment they had received from the government. She was adopted into the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation. She wrote about the equality between women and men among Native Americans.
Gage co-authored The Declaration of Rights of Women with Stanton. She authored Woman, Church and State.
The Historic Gage Home is located at 210 East Genesee Street, Fayetteville, N.Y. 13066. It is on the corner of Route 5 and Walnut Street. The family burial site is nearby in Fayetteville Cemetery. There is an engraving on her tomb, which reads: "There is a word sweeter than mother, home or heaven. That word is liberty."
For more information, go to www.matildajoslyngage.org and http://www.nyhistory.com/gagepage/gagebio.htm.
This post is dedicated to a retired NYC teacher who is an activist for social justice.
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