Minnie Bronson (September 12, 1863,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
- October 28, 1927 Cattaraugus County, New York) was an American
anti-suffragist
Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...
activist who was general secretary of the
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage
The National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS) was founded in the United States by women opposed to the Women's suffrage in the United States, suffrage movement in 1911. It was the most popular Anti-suffragism, anti-suffrage organizati ...
.
Biography
Minnie Bronson was from
Fayette, Iowa. Her father, Harvey S. Brunson, came from Ohio and worked as a minister, a hotel operator, and a director of Upper Iowa University. Her mother, Jane McCool, was originally from Illinois. Bronson was the youngest of five siblings.
Bronson graduated from
Upper Iowa University
Upper Iowa University (UIU) is a private university in Fayette, Iowa, United States. It enrolls around 3,000 students and offers distance education programs that include centers in the U.S., an online program, an independent study program, an ...
with an A.B. and M.A.
During her time in university she participated in several oratorical contests; one of her competitions was attended by social reformer
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 ...
, who would comment on the performance in her autobiography.
Bronson worked as a high school mathematics teacher in
St. Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
, Minnesota from 1889 to 1899. Beginning in 1900, she led the design of educational exhibits at world's fair expositions including
Paris (1900),
the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901),
St. Louis (1904),
Liège (1905),
Jamestown, Virginia (1907), and
Seattle (1909).
She also held a number of short-term assignments working for the U.S. government, including as a Special Agent for the
Bureau of Labor investigating labor conditions for women and children from 1907 to 1909 and Special Agent reporting on the
New York shirtwaist strike in 1910.
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 ...
, Bronson was a member of the
American Committee for Devastated France
American Committee for Devastated France (1919–1924), also known as CARD (''Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévastées de France''), was a small group of American women who volunteered to help the French Third Republic recover from the d ...
and traveled throughout France. She presented about the organization's work to the Iowa Bankers Association convention in 1919.
Anti-suffragist activity
Bronson served as General Secretary for the
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage
The National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS) was founded in the United States by women opposed to the Women's suffrage in the United States, suffrage movement in 1911. It was the most popular Anti-suffragism, anti-suffrage organizati ...
(NAOWS), the United States' leading anti-suffrage organization based in New York City.
She edited their weekly periodical, the ''Woman Patriot'', that distributed anti-suffrage opinion across the country. In December 1913, Bronson addressed the U.S.
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
Committee on Woman Suffrage representing the "anti" perspective, alongside speeches given by prominent suffragists
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 ...
,
Helen H. Gardener,
Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Chapman Catt (born Carrie Clinton Lane; January 9, 1859#Fowler, Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women t ...
, and
Ida H. Harper.
A skilled orator and organizer, Bronson was active in speaking tours and debates in New York and other states throughout the U.S., together with
Josephine Jewell Dodge, the president of NAOWS. Her campaigning took her across the country including California, Nevada, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington D.C., and Virginia.
She also organized training classes to teach others how to dissect pro-suffrage arguments.
With her background as a wage-earning woman - in contrast to many prominent anti-suffragists of the period, who came from wealthy families - Bronson was able to promote her connection with the working class in her public speaking and writing.
Her events were often well-attended, though sometimes attracted significant attention and criticism from her pro-suffrage opponents. During a visit to Nevada in 1914, Bronson was escorted from the theatre where she had been speaking and, according to local news reports, "agitators" set the building on fire.
In her speeches and reports, Bronson maintained that granting the vote to women would not have a positive impact on improving women's social and economic circumstances. A frequently-referenced line of argument held that opening up the vote to all women would dilute the influence of educated and reform-minded women who were better positioned to affect the political change she desired. Before an audience of 150 women in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bronson was reported to have said: "In attaining the ballot, we believe that the best women would throw away the advantage which is now in their hands. In shaping public opinion, the intelligent and good woman now counts immeasurably, while the ignorant and vicious woman counts scarely at nil. But at the ballot box, both would be equal."
Bronson, together with Massachusetts anti-suffragist Alice George, created a recording of the song "The Anti-Suffrage Rose" featured at the New York State Fair.
Publications
* ''The Wage-Earning Woman and the State'' (1912)
* ''Woman Suffrage and Child Labor Legislation'' (1914)
References
External links
Photograph of Minnie Bronson and report of her activities at the St. Louis Exhibition, 1904
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronson, Minnie
American women activists
Activists from Iowa
Female critics of feminism
20th-century American women
1863 births
1927 deaths
19th-century American women educators
19th-century American educators
Schoolteachers from Iowa
Schoolteachers from Minnesota
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage people
American anti-suffragists