Jessie Ashley (1861–1919) was an American lawyer, socialist, and feminist. Born into a wealthy family, she entered law school at age 39 and became a radical lawyer with a foot in two worlds. A founder of the National Birth Control League, Ashley served on the editorial board for

Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

's '' Birth Control Review'' during the 1910s. As an attorney, she worked on behalf of radical labor activists and was a regular activist for the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

, involved in the 1911 textile workers' strike in Lowell, Massachusetts and the 1913 Paterson silk strike. At the same time, she served as the treasurer 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 ...

(NAWSA). Her Socialist politics were an uneasy fit for the very mainstream NAWSA, and eventually she stepped down.

Legal career

Ashley graduated from

NYU 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 surviving ...

in 1902. Her brother Clarence Ashley was the dean, and under his tenure the school moved to admit women. Few law schools allowed women to enroll in 1900, so NYU gathered a cohort of talented, ambitious women. Ashley and her classmates

Ida Rauh Ida Rauh (March 7, 1877 – February 28, 1970) was an American suffragist, actress, sculptor, and poet who helped found the Provincetown Players in 1915. The players, including Susan Glaspell, George Cram Cook, John Reed (journalist), John R ...

and Madeleine Zabriskie Doty lived in Greenwich Village after graduating, and along with Elizabeth Pope, Ashley and Doty created their own law firm. Ashley helped force open the clubby world of New York legal practice - both to women as lawyers and to activists with radical politics. She was a member of the New York County Lawyers' Association, one of the first such associations to admit women, and maintained a law practice with other women or as a solo practitioner. She also served as an examiner for the New York Bar, and taught at NYU. She and

Bill Haywood William Dudley Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socia ...

were lovers. She died of pneumonia on January 20, 1919.

References

1861 births 1919 deaths American jurists American feminists Deaths from pneumonia in the United States American women lawyers New York University School of Law alumni American women activists {{US-law-bio-stub