Amelia Bloomer

1818-1894

Bloomer attended the first Seneca Falls convention in 1848, but took no part in its proceedings. In 1848 she organized the Ladies' Temperance Society, and began to publish and edit its official newspaper, The Lily, in 1849. This paper was to become the first journal in the United States devoted to the interests of women, addressing itself to the issues of education, marriage laws, and the status of women. In response to the Tennessee legislature's statement that women had no souls so they could not own property, Bloomer and the Lily took its first editorial stand on women's rights, and from 1850 on, the paper became as fully dedicated to women's rights and suffrage, as it was to the cause of temperance. In 1852, the New York State Women's Temperance Society was established with Bloomer as its secretary.<

In the early part of 1851 Bloomer became involved in the dress reform movement and took to wearing full-length Turkish pantaloons covered by a short skirt. Soon women all over the country took to wearing the outfit as a symbol of liberation. Because of its popularization in The Lily, this style of dressing became known as the Bloomer costume. Bloomer moved The Lily to Ohio, when her husband relocated there after buying an interest in a weekly reform paper. The Lily continued to grow in popularity and subscriptions rose to 6,000. The paper employed women to set type, even under threat of a strike from male staff. The Lily ceased publication in 1856, after Bloomer moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa and realized she could not transport the equipment there safely from Ohio. Bloomer continued to work for women's causes, lobbying in Nebraska for the vote and in Nebraska for married women's property rights in Iowa.

Source: Biographies Plus, American Reformers (1985)