Abby Morton Diaz (November 22, 1821 – April 1, 1904) was a teacher,
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
organizer, and industrial reformer.
Early life
She was born in 1821 in
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...
to Ichabod Morton, a prominent anti-slavery worker. She had five brothers and was the only daughter. One of her ancestors was
George Morton, a
Plymouth Pilgrim.
As a young girl, Diaz was the secretary of a juvenile anti-slavery society, to whose funds each member aimed to contribute twenty-five cents weekly, a large sum at the time. To raise half her contribution, she went without butter and knit garters. She was influence by anti-slavery leaders
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...
and
Horace Mann
Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig Party (United States), Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education, he is thus also known as ''The Father of A ...
.
For a time, the family lived in the
Brook Farm
Brook Farm, also called the Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and EducationFelton, 124 or the Brook Farm Association for Industry and Education,Rose, 140 was a utopian experiment in communal living in the United States in the 1840s. It was ...
communal experiment
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...
in
West Roxbury
West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...
, Massachusetts, her father built a house there and in the 1840s, she was a teacher there.
When it was clear that the community would not be a success, the Mortons returned to Plymouth.
Early adulthood
She married, but it was a brief marriage that resulted in two sons. To support them, she taught at public and private schools, was a housekeeper at an island resort near Plymouth, and "put out" garments for a large clothing manufacturer. When visiting the "lofts" she saw that there were skillful women who worked there at little pay because they had no other options.
Career
Women's Educational and Industrial Union
She was a founder of the
Women's Educational and Industrial Union
The Women's Educational and Industrial Union (1877–2006) in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded by physician Harriet Clisby for the advancement of women and to help women and children in the industrial city. By 1893, chapters of the WEIU were esta ...
of
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. An important work of that association was giving legal protection of helpless women and girls from employers and advertisers who did not pay fair wages. She was unanimously re-elected president of the educational and industrial association every year since its organization.
Writer and lecturer
In 1861, Diaz sent a story to ''
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 ...
,'' under an assumed name, and received a check for forty dollars for it. Her stories for children, originally published in ''Young Folks'' and other magazines, have a wide fame, and series after series, beginning with ''William Henry's Letters to His Grandmother,'' ''Pink and Blue'', ''The Little Country Girl,'' ''Farmer Hill's Diary,'' ''The Schoolmaster's Story'' and ''Some Account of the Early Life of a Bachelor''.
When Rev.
Edward Eggleston
Edward Eggleston (December 10, 1837 – September 3, 1902) was an American historian and novelist.
Biography
Eggleston was born in Vevay, Indiana on December 10, 1837, to Joseph Cary Eggleston and Mary Jane Craig. The author George Cary Eggles ...
became editor of ''Hearth and Home'', he was advised by
William Dean Howells
William Dean Howells ( ; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American Realism (arts), realist novelist, literary critic, playwright, and diplomat, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ...
to write to Diaz, and he did so, the correspondence resulting in the series of papers upon the household life of women found in ''The Schoolmaster's Trunk.'' These and others are included in two volumes, ''The Bybury Book'' and ''Domestic Problems.''
Her letters and articles on household and domestic difficulties caused her to be looked upon as one speaking with authority, and she was invited to lecture upon those questions. She read a paper in the Woman's Congress held in Philadelphia in 1876. The paper was entitled "The Development of Character in Schools," since published in ''
The Arena.''
Personal life
Diaz was interested in
New Thought
The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a new religious movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy ...
, which at the time was sometimes erroneously identified with
Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...
, and she took a class from the movement's founder
Emma Curtis Hopkins
Josephine Emma Curtis Hopkins (September 2, 1849 – April 8, 1925) was an American spiritual teacher and leader. She was involved in organizing the New Thought movement and was a theologian, teacher, writer, feminist, mystic, and healer; who ta ...
. She wrote several pamphlets on the subject. At the end of the 19th century, she gave lecturers on the ethics of
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
,
Christian socialism
Christian socialism is a Religious philosophy, religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...
, progressive morality, life, meaning of life, developing character in homes and schools, human nature, competition, and a series of papers on arbitration, first published in the ''Independent.''
She was an early advocate for
Bellamyite Nationalism.
Diaz lived in her home in Belmont, Massachusetts, with her oldest son.
She died there on April 1, 1904.
References
External links
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Abby Morton Diaz papersat the
Sophia Smith Collection
The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history.
General
One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, a ...
, Smith College Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Abby Morton
1821 births
1904 deaths
American women's rights activists
American children's writers
Activists from Massachusetts
Writers from Massachusetts
People from Plymouth, Massachusetts
19th-century American writers
19th-century American women writers
People from West Roxbury, Boston
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century
American lecturers