Almira Hollander Pitman (1854 – December 17, 1939) was an American

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and

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 ...

activist. Pitman was largely active in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

suffrage organizations. She was also instrumental in working for women's suffrage in Hawaii. Pitman was also known for her writing.

Biography

Almira "Mira" Hollander was born in

in 1854 and grew up in

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri, a village * Brookline, New Hampshire, a town * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookl ...

. She married Benjamin Franklin Keolaokalani Pitman, who was the son of

Benjamin Pitman Benjamin Pitman (July 24, 1822 – December 28, 1910), also known as Benn Pitman, was an English-born author and popularizer in the United States of Pitman shorthand, a form of what was then called phonography (shorthand). He was also active ...

, in 1875. Born in the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian:

ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi Latin epsilon or open E (majuscule: Ɛ, minuscule: ɛ) is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet, based on the lowercase of the Greek letter epsilon (ε). It was introduced in the 16th century by Gian Giorgio Trissino to represent the pronunc ...

, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...

, Benjamin F. K. Pitman was of

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

noble descent and the son of

Kinoʻoleoliliha Kinooleoliliha Pitman (c. 1825–1855), also written as Kinoole-o-Liliha, was a high chiefess in the Kingdom of Hawaii. She was known as Mrs. Pitman after her marriage. In the Hawaiian language, ''kino 'ole'' means "thin" and ''liliha'' can mean " ...

, a high chiefess of

Hilo Hilo () is the largest settlement in and the county seat of Hawaii County, Hawaiʻi, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaiʻi, and is a census-designated place (CDP). The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. I ...

. Almira Pitman became involved with

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

in 1884 when she joined the

New England Woman Suffrage Association The New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) was established in November 1868 to campaign for the right of women to vote in the U.S. Its principal leaders were Julia Ward Howe, its first president, and Lucy Stone, who later became president. ...

(NEWSA). She went on to become the recording secretary of the Brookline Suffrage Association and in 1913, chair of the Ways and Means Committee of the

Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association The Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) was an American organization devoted to women's suffrage in Massachusetts. It was active from 1870 to 1919. History The MWSA was founded in 1870 by suffrage activists Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, ...

(MWSA). Pitman was in charge of the Bay State Suffrage Festivals 1913, 1915, and 1919, helping to raise money for suffrage organizations. Pitman and her husband visited Hawaii for six weeks starting on January 29, 1917. The couple was received warmly by her husband's Hawaiian extended family and he was honored as a descendant of Hawaiian chiefs. Pitman, who was already known to suffragists in Hawaii as an activist, was invited to speak around the islands. Pitman spoke to nearly all of the members of the territorial legislature about women's suffrage. She also promised suffragists that she would advocate for Hawaii's right to determine women's suffrage. In 1917, a bill was presented by Prince

Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole (March 26, 1871 – January 7, 1922) was a prince of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi until it was overthrown by a coalition of American and European businessmen in 1893. He later went on to become the delegate of the Territo ...

to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to allow Hawaii to legislate on suffrage. Pitman,

Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first women to be ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States. Early li ...

and

Maud Wood Park Maud Wood Park (January 25, 1871 – May 8, 1955) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist. Career overview She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1887 she graduated from St. Agnes School in Albany, New York, after which she ta ...

all testified in front of the House Committee on Woman Suffrage about the bill on April 29, 1918. When the bill passed in June, Pitman was given credit for helping its passage. After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Pitman remained an activist for

. She was also active in political groups, being a member of the Women's Republican Club of Massachusetts. She and Benjamin F. K. Pitman had two sons. The elder son Benjamin attended Harvard College, and their younger son Theodore Pitman became a sculptor, dedicating a monument to his ancestors in 1928. Another Theodore, their great-grandson, donated a manuscript of notes from 1836 to 1861 to the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...

in 2007. Pitman died on December 17, 1939, in Brookline.

Writing

* * *

References

Sources

External links

"The Woman's Doxology"
(1921) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitman, Almira Hollander 1854 births 1939 deaths Suffragists from Massachusetts American women's rights activists Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts