Ernestine Rose was a pioneer of woman's rights in New York at the same time that Mary Upton Ferrin was petitioning for women in Massachusetts. I like to believe that Mary attended the Woman's Rights conventions in Worcester in 1850 and 1851; however, in the "History of Woman Suffrage," Ferrin is credited with working solo and being unaware of the efforts of other woman activists. We know she did attend the Constitutional Convention of 1854 and promoted legal rights for women in Massachusetts.
New York State passed the first married women's property law in the United States - all thanks to a fearless and persistent women’s rights activist, Ernestine Rose. This was not this suffragist’s first feminist campaign, nor her last. When Rose was 16, growing up in Poland as the daughter of a Rabbi, she refused to accept an arranged marriage and fought to retain her inheritance from her mother, successfully defending against a claim for damages in a secular court by the spurned suitor. She successfully sued for entry to Berlin despite anti-semitic immigration policies. Ernestine Rose immigrated to New York City in 1836, where 12 years of activism turned into one of the first victories of the women’s rights movement, when the Married Women’s Property Act was passed in 1848. Rose came to prominence at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850 and 1851 with her terrific oratory skills. Three years later, Rose was elected president of the National Woman's Rights Convention and continued to have a prolific public speaking career across the country. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah we remember and uplift her legacy by speaking out for voting rights and gender justice across the Commonwealth and country!
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