Swisshelm, Jane Grey

Swisshelm, Jane Grey

▪ American journalist
née  Jane Grey Cannon 
born December 6, 1815, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
died July 22, 1884, Swissvale, Pennsylvania

      American journalist and abolitionist (abolitionism) who countered vocal and sometimes physical opposition to her publications supporting women's rights (women's movement) and decrying slavery.

      Jane Grey Cannon taught lace making from 1823 to help support her family, and she became a schoolteacher at age 14. In 1836 she married James Swisshelm, whose demand for her subservience contributed to her later devotion to women's rights. While living in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1838, she witnessed slavery firsthand and thenceforth was also dedicated to the abolition movement (abolitionism); for a short time she worked for the Underground Railroad.

      Swisshelm's career in journalism began when she submitted stories and poems to Philadelphia papers in 1842, and in 1844 her first byline appeared in the Pittsburgh Spirit of Liberty. Her own abolitionist weekly, the Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter, first appeared in 1848. It soon advocated women's rights as well, but in a much less aggressive manner than most reformers of the time; Swisshelm urged women not to make unreasonable demands lest their entire movement be rejected. She further distinguished herself by insisting that women's rights and abolitionism be dealt with separately.

      In 1850 Swisshelm made history as the first woman in the Senate press gallery. In 1857 she left both her husband and the Visiter to move to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where the following year she reestablished her paper as the St. Cloud Visiter. The venture was short-lived; a group of men supporting slavery destroyed her printing press in March 1858. By the summer of that year, however, Swisshelm had launched the St. Cloud Democrat in its place. She sold the business in 1863. During the Civil War she volunteered as a nurse and then retired to Swissvale, Pennsylvania, where she continued to write. Her memoirs, Half a Century, were published in 1880, after which she lived as a recluse.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jane Grey Swisshelm — Jane Swisshelm (1815 1884) Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm, née le 6 décembre 1815 à Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanie (États Unis) et morte le 22 juillet 1884 à Swissvale, près de Pittsburgh, est une journaliste américaine, abolitionniste… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jane Swisshelm — Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm (December 6, 1815 mdash;July 22, 1884) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and women s rights advocate.Swisshelm was born Jane Grey Cannon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, daughter of Thomas Cannon, a… …   Wikipedia

  • Swissvale, Pennsylvania — Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, nine miles (14 km) east of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named for a farmstead owned by abolitionist and early feminist Jane Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of… …   Wikipedia

  • St. Cloud, Minnesota —   City   Buildings on 5th Ave in downtown St. Cloud …   Wikipedia

  • Pyaemia — Infobox Disease Name = PAGENAME Caption = DiseasesDB = ICD10 = ICD9 = ICD9|038.42 ICDO = OMIM = MedlinePlus = eMedicineSubj = eMedicineTopic = MeshID = Pyaemia (or pyemia) is a type of septicaemia that leads to widespread abscesses of a… …   Wikipedia

  • Battle of Wood Lake — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Battle of Wood Lake caption= partof=the Dakota War of 1862 date=September 23, 1862 place=Wood Lake, Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota result=Decisive United States victory combatant1=United States of America… …   Wikipedia

  • Sylvanus Lowry — General Sylvanus P. Lowry (d. 1865) was a slave owning Southern aristocrat from Kentucky who reigned as the political boss of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. He is well known in Minnesota folklore for his personal war with Abolitionist newspaper… …   Wikipedia

  • Pyohémie — La pyohémie, ou pyémie, est une septicémie à germes dits pyogènes qui aboutit à des abcès généralisés métastatiques. Elle est généralement causée par une bactérie, le staphylocoque, responsable de la formation de pus dans le sang. En dehors de… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”