Janet Elizabeth Richards (1859–1948) was a writer and

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

who worked in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Biography

Janet Elizabeth Richards was born in

Granville, Ohio Granville is a Village (United States)#Ohio, village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,946 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The village is located in a rural area of hills, known locally as the Welsh Hills ...

in 1859. She was educated at Eden Hall Academy of the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

, an all-girls boarding school in Torresdale, Pennsylvania. The school was described as archaic and prison-like by memoirist V. V. Harrison. Richards lectured thousands of times in Eastern US cities on

social issue A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

s, travel, history, and literature. She was a life member of the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...

and delegate to the organization's annual meeting in

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in 1909. She traveled to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

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for conventions of the

International Woman Suffrage Alliance The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suff ...

. She organized for suffrage in several US states. She advocated for women's involvement in

International Arbitration International arbitration can refer to arbitration between companies or individuals in different states, usually by including a provision for future disputes in a contract (typically referred to as international commercial arbitration) or betwee ...

. Richards was a charter member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

. In 1892 she published stories of American women's role in the war, highlighting women who exhorted men in their family to do to their duty even at the cost of their own life. Researcher Simon Wendt characterizes Richards's war stories as promoting the idea of heroism of women by reinforcing stereotypes of

masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there i ...

connected to war. Richards resided at The Olympia in Washington D.C. She died in 1948 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Janet Elizabeth 1859 births 1948 deaths People from Granville, Ohio American women's rights activists 19th-century American women writers Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)