Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and journalist. She was a leader in the fight for

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 ...

, a co-founder and co-editor with her brother

Max Eastman Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy, and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radica ...

of the radical arts and politics magazine '' The Liberator,'' co-founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and co-founder in 1920 of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

. In 2000, she was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution founded to honor and recognize women. It was incorporated in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, and first inducted honorees in 1973. As of 2024, the Hall has honored 312 inducte ...

in Seneca Falls, New York.

Early life and education

Crystal Eastman was born in

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

, on June 25, 1881, the third of four children. Her oldest brother, Morgan, was born in 1878 and died in 1884. The second brother, Anstice Ford Eastman, who became a general surgeon, was born in 1878 and died in 1937.

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

was the youngest, born in 1883. In 1883, their parents, Samuel Elijah Eastman and Annis Bertha Ford, moved the family to

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua () is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,576 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex in the adjacent town of Hopewell. ...

. In 1889, their mother became one of the first women ordained as a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

minister in America when she became a minister of the

Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

. Her father was also a Congregational minister, and the two served as pastors at the church of Thomas K. Beecher near Elmira. Mark Twain's family also attended the church and it was this shared association that young Crystal also became acquainted with him. This part of New York was in the so-called " Burnt Over District." During the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a k ...

earlier in the 19th century, its frontier had been a center of evangelizing and much religious excitement, which resulted in the founding of such beliefs as

Millerism The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1831 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, hi ...

and

Mormonism Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationism, Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to va ...

. During the antebellum period, some were inspired by religious ideals to support such progressive social causes as

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

and the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. This humanitarian tradition influenced Crystal and her brother

. He became a

activist early on, and Crystal had several common causes with him. They were close throughout her life, even after he had become more conservative. The siblings lived together on 11th Street in New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

among other radical activists for several years. The group, including Ida Rauh, Inez Milholland, Floyd Dell, and Doris Stevens, also spent summers and weekends in Croton-on-Hudson, where Max bought a house in 1916. Eastman graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in 1903 and received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in sociology (then a relatively new field) from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1904. She then attended

New York University Law School The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

, graduating in 1907 as the second in her class. While pursuing her graduate degree, Eastman worked nights as a recreation leader at the Greenwich House Settlement, where she encountered Paul Underwood Kellogg.

Social efforts

Social work pioneer and journal editor Paul Kellogg offered Eastman her first job: investigating labor conditions for '' The Pittsburgh Survey''. Her report, ''Work Accidents and the Law'' (1910), became a crucial tool in the fight for occupation health and safety and an early weapon in the ongoing battle. In 1909, Justice Hughes, who at the time was governor of New York, appointed Eastman to the New York State Commission of Employee's Liability and Causes of Industrial Accidents, Unemployment and Lack of Farm Labor. The first woman to be appointed a commission member, she drafted the inaugural

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

law. This model became the standard for the U.S. During Woodrow Wilson's presidency, she continued to campaign for occupational safety and health while working as an investigating attorney for the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations from 1913 to 1914. She advocated for "motherhood endowments" whereby mothers of young children would receive monetary benefits. She argued it would reduce forced dependence of mothers on men, as well as economically empower women.

Emancipation

Wallace J. Benedict was an insurance agent in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, Wisconsin, and so when Eastman married him in 1911, she moved there after the wedding. There she managed the unsuccessful 1912

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

suffrage 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 v ...

campaign. Divorcing in 1913, she returned east where she joined

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...

, Lucy Burns, and others in founding the militant Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, which became the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

. After the passage of the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920, Eastman and Paul wrote the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

(ERA), first introduced in 1923. One of the few socialists to endorse the ERA, Eastman warned that protective legislation for women would mean only discrimination against women. Eastman claimed that one could assess the importance of the ERA by the intensity of the opposition to it. However, she felt that it was still a struggle worth fighting. She also delivered the speech "Now We Can Begin" after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment;it outlined the work that needed to be done in the political and economic spheres to achieve gender equality.

Peace efforts

During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Eastman was one of the founders of the

Woman's Peace Party The Woman's Peace Party (WPP) was an American Pacifism, pacifist and First-wave feminism, feminist organization formally established in January 1915 in response to World War I. The organization is remembered as the first American peace organizatio ...

, soon joined by

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

, Lillian D. Wald, and others. She served as president of the New York City branch. Renamed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1921, it remains the oldest extant women's peace organization. Eastman also became executive director of the American Union Against Militarism, which lobbied against America's entrance into the European war and more successfully against war with Mexico in 1916. This group sought to remove profiteering from arms manufacturing and campaigned against

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

, imperial adventures, and military intervention. When the United States entered World War I, Eastman, together with Roger Baldwin and

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian religious minister, minister, political activist, and perennial candidate for president. He achieved fame as a socialism, socialist and pacifism, pacifis ...

organized the

National Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the re ...

(NCLB) to protect

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion, religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for ...

or, in her words: "To maintain something over here that will be worth coming back to when the weary war is over." The NCLB grew into the

(ACLU), with Baldwin at the head and Eastman functioning as attorney-in-charge. Eastman is credited as a founding member of the ACLU, but her role as founder of the NCLB may have been largely ignored by posterity because of her personal differences with Baldwin.

Marriage and family

In 1916, Eastman married the British editor and antiwar activist Walter Fuller, who had come to the United States to direct his sisters' singing of folksongs. They had two children, Jeffrey Fuller born in 1917 and Annis Fuller born in 1921. Choosing to keep her last name, Eastman explored family practices aimed at fostering gender equality within the realms of marriage and family life. The publication of her 1923 confessional article titled ''Marriage Under Two Roofs'' caused an uproar as Eastman revealed the specifics of their unconventional living arrangement. She argues that residing in two separate residences is better than in one because by ultimately leading to an authentic expression of sexual desire and marital love, which in turn contributes to the overall happiness of the family unit. Eastman and Walter worked together as activists until the end of the war, when he worked as the managing editor of ''

The Freeman ''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chambe ...

'' until 1922, when he returned to

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. For eight years, Eastman traveled by ship between London and New York to be with her husband. Walter died in 1927 from a stroke, which ended his career of editing ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. After Max Eastman's periodical '' The Masses'' was forced to close by government censorship in 1917, he and Crystal co-founded a radical journal of politics, art, and literature: the '' Liberator'', in early 1918. She and Max co-edited it until they put it in the hands of faithful friends in 1922.

Post-War

After the war, Eastman organized the First Feminist Congress in 1919. In New York, her activities led to her being blacklisted during the

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

of 1919–1920. During the 1920s, Eastman was a columnist for

's feminist journal, '' Equal Rights,'' and the British feminist weekly publication '' Time and Tide''. Eastman claimed that "life was a big battle for the complete feminist," but she was convinced that the complete feminist would someday achieve total victory.

Death

Crystal Eastman died at age 47, on July 8, 1928, of

nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation ...

, a year after her husband had passed. Friends were entrusted with their two orphaned children, then seven and eleven years old, to rear them until adulthood.

Legacy

Eastman has been called one of the most neglected leaders in the United States because although she wrote pioneering legislation and created long-lasting political organizations, she disappeared from history for 50 years. Freda Kirchwey, the editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', wrote at the time of her death, "When she spoke to people—whether it was to a small committee or a swarming crowd—hearts beat faster. She was for thousands a symbol of what the free woman might be." In 2000, Eastman was inducted into the (American)

in Seneca Falls, New York. In 2018, ''The Socialist'', the official publication of the

Socialist Party USA The Socialist Party of the United States of America (also Socialist Party USA or SPUSA) is a socialist political party in the United States. SPUSA formed in 1973, one year after the Socialist Party of America splintered into three: Social De ...

, published the article "Remembering Socialist Feminist Crystal Eastman" by Lisa Petriello, which was written "on the 90th-year anniversary of her astman'sdeath to bring her life and legacy once again to the public eye."

Works

Papers

Eastman's papers are housed at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Publications

The Library of Congress has the following publications by Eastman in its collection, many of them published posthumously: * '' 'Employers' Liability,' a Criticism Based on Facts'' (1909) * ''Work-accidents and the Law'' (1910) * ''Mexican-American Peace Committee (Mexican-American league)'' (1916) * ''Work accidents and the Law'' (1969) * ''Toward the Great Change: Crystal and Max Eastman on Feminism, Antimilitarism, and Revolution,'' edited by Blanche Wiesen Cook (1976) * ''Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution,'' edited by Blanche Wiesen Cook (1978) * "Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life," by Amy Aronson (2020)

Footnotes

External links

*
Crystal Eastman Papers Finding Aid

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...

, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
crystaleastman.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastman, Crystal 1881 births 1928 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers American anti–World War I activists American Civil Liberties Union people American magazine editors American pacifists Suffragists from Massachusetts Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Journalists from Massachusetts Journalists from New York (state) Massachusetts socialists National Woman's Party activists New York (state) socialists New York University School of Law alumni American opinion journalists Pacifist feminists People from Canandaigua, New York People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York People from Greenwich Village People from Marlborough, Massachusetts American socialist feminists Vassar College alumni Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people American women magazine editors Female Christian socialists Women Christian religious leaders Proponents of Christian feminism Equal Rights Amendment activists Deaths from nephritis Suffragists from New York (state) American women founders