With the 2016 Presidential Election heating up, I find myself more interested in politics than ever. With the possibility of Hillary Clinton becoming the United States’s first female POTUS, I think it’s high time to look back at some of the amazing political women that have come before her.
Please welcome one of the most interesting, scandalous, and, frankly forgotten women of our history…Victoria Woodhull. She was spunky, she was honest, she believed in women’s suffrage, short skirts, free love, and she ran for President of the United States…before women even had the right to vote!
The year was 1872 and Victoria was nominated to run under the Equal Rights Party. She couldn’t even have voted herself, not only because she was a woman, but because she was in jail at the time for obscenity charges….wait what?
Let me explain.
Victoria was born in 1838 in Ohio. She and her younger sister, Tennessee, spent most of their childhood traveling with their father, who was a revivalist preacher and forced his daughters to “speak” to the dead (pay attention, this is important later!).
At the age of 15 (ew) she married Canning Woodhull, who was a drunk and a philanderer and forced her to live in poverty while he showered his mistresses in riches. Basically, he was the original f**kboy. After having two children with Canning, Victoria had had enough and divorced him. Being a single mother at any point in history is difficult, but it was practically unheard of at the time. Victoria transformed into a passionate, driven woman determined to help the women around her and fight for the causes she believed in. #PREACH
She married Col. James Blood, a believer of free-love, in 1866. He encouraged Victoria in all of her self-education and determination. With the support of her hubby, Victoria and her sister moved to New York.
In New York, Victoria and Tennessee worked as spiritualists (basically psychic…aka the first Long Island Medium!) and captivated many, including railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was interested in speaking to his dead wife and mother.
With Cornelius’s help, the sisters opened their own Wall Street Stock Brokerage firm (I know, can this story get any more exciting?!?!) and even cashed in on the panic of Black Friday in 1869. Whether they were getting trade secrets and insider information from Cornelius is unknown but either way…move over gentlemen, there are some new ladies in town!
As if these women could not get anymore amazing, they started a newspaper with the profits from their business, Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly. The newspaper argued for sex education, contraceptive rights, short skirts, and free love. The Weekly was the first place to publish an English translation of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. The same year, she announced her intentions to run for President.
However, while Victoria’s determination, ambition and willingness to speak about what she thought was right was what made her famous, they also led to her downfall.
Three days before Election Day, Victoria and Tennessee published details surrounding the adultery of Henry Ward Beecher, a revered minister and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe (the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin). Victoria claimed she did this to display the double standard of fidelity: basically when a woman cheated on her man, she was condemned and her reputation stained for life, and when a man cheated, no action was taken. However, Beecher sued the sisters for obscenity and Victoria spent election day in jail. She received no votes from the electoral college, but it’s unclear how much of the popular vote she received.
Victoria attempted to run for POTUS again but she lost steam and eventually moved to London with her third husband where she lived for the rest of her life, still writing and advocating for women’s rights.
The first thing I notice about Victoria is how beautiful she is. The second is how much of a badass she is. Even in her black and white picture I can tell from her steely eyes how determined she is. All I want to do is have a conversation with her.
Victoria was a liar, a cheater, and she probably conned her way into a fortune of what would be millions of dollar, today. But, I’m struck by the fact that the same qualities that she was condemned for–her cunningness and her ambition–are celebrated in her male counterparts, even to this day. I could see a movie being made with her as the “Wolf of Wall Street” as opposed to Leonardo DiCaprio. She was certainly a lioness in her own right.
Victoria Woodull was the first woman to speak in front of a congressional hearing. She was a self-made millionaire. She was admired by our own Susan B. Anthony. She was a psychic. She believe in free love. She was determined, and ambitious, and, smart.
And she will always be my ultimate #womancrushwednesday.