A Feminist Pioneer
The mission of the Ernestine Rose Society is to revive the legacy of this important early 19th-century reformer by recognizing her pioneering role in the first wave of feminism.
Ernestine Rose
Susan B. Anthony recognized Ernestine Rose as one of the three foremothers of the 19th-century women's rights movement in the United States: "Mary Wollstonecraft and then Frances Wright and Ernestine Rose...All spoke about women's rights before Lucretia Mott, Stanton and others."
Anthony kept a large photo of Rose on the wall of her study and described her as "that noble worker for the cause of women's rights."
Anthony and Rose most likely first met in 1852 when Anthony attended her first Woman's Rights Convention. At the time, Rose had been advocating for women's rights in the United States since 1836.
- Read excerpts from Rose's speeches on women's rights issues (many of which still remain relevant).
- Read her stirring address to the second National Women's Rights Conference in 1851.
Recognition
Ernestine Rose was selected by the Museum of the City of New York as one of the 400 most influential New Yorkers over the city's 400-year history.
2010 was the bicentennial of the birth of Ernestine Rose. It was an important time to recognize and honor Rose's contributions to women's rights and suffrage, abolition of slavery in the United States and religious freethought.