Ruza Wenclawska
Ruza Wenclawska (December 15, 1889 – 1977), also known as Rose Winslow and later as Rose Lyons by marriage, was a Polish-American suffragist, factory inspector and trade union organizer.[1][2] She also worked as an actress and a poet.[3]
Early life
Wenclawska was born in Suwałki, Poland, and came to the United States with her parents when she was an infant.[1] At the age of eleven, she began work as a mill girl in the hosiery industry in Pittsburgh.[3] She also worked as a shop girl in Philadelphia, but when she was nineteen, she caught tuberculosis, and had to quit working for two years.[3]
Later life
Wenclawska worked as a factory inspector and a trade union organizer in New York City with the National Consumers' League and the National Women's Trade Union League.[3] She also gave speeches for the National Woman's Party.[3] In 1914, she and Lucy Burns were leaders of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage's campaign in California to urge voters to oppose Democratic congressional candidates.[3] She did similar work with other organizers in Wyoming during the electoral campaigns of 1916.[3] In 1917, she was part of the Silent Sentinels protests at the White House, for which she served time in district jail and the Occoquan Workhouse.[3] While in Occuquan, she went on a hunger strike and was force-fed.[4][3][2][5] During that time, she smuggled letters out to her husband, Philip Lyons, and her friends.[6] Wenclawska was also an actress and a poet.[3] She died in 1977.[7]
Legacy
She was portrayed by Vera Farmiga in the 2004 film Iron Jawed Angels.[8]
In 2017 the book Feminist Essays by Nancy Quinn Collins was published; it was dedicated to Wenclawska.[9]
References
- ^ a b "Officers and National Organizers - Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party - Collections - Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ a b "Starving for Women's Suffrage: "I Am Not Strong after These Weeks"". History Matters. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Rose Winslow Organizer National Woman Suffrage Movement". American Civil War. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ Marcia Amidon Lusted (August 1, 2011). The Fight for Women's Suffrage. ABDO. pp. 74–. ISBN 978-1-61783-099-0.
- ^ "Women's Rights: People and Perspectives: People and Perspectives". Google Books. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ Crista DeLuzio (November 12, 2009). Women's Rights: People and Perspectives: People and Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. pp. 109–. ISBN 978-1-59884-115-2.
- ^ "Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party - Profiles: Selected Leaders of the National Woman's Party - (American Memory from the Library of Congress)". Memory.loc.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ^ "Iron Jawed Angels (2004) Acting Credits". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ^ Collins, Nancy Quinn (2017-02-15). Feminist Essays. Lulu.com. p. 3. ISBN 9781365759949. OCLC 973915683.