by: Casey Bannen

AMELIA BLOOMER

• Born: May 27th 1818• Birthplace: Horner, New Jersey

• Parents: Ananias Jenks and Lucy Webb• Received only a few years of basic education in Homer’s district schools

• At age 17 Amelia began teaching in Clyde, New York• Amelia was also a governess and tutor for a family in Waterloo, New

York• 1840- married Dexter C. Bloomer ( newspaper editor - edited Seneca

County Courier - and attorney) {they resided to Seneca Falls, New York}

• Amelia was a temperance and women’s rights reformer• Amelia wrote anonymous reform-minded articles for local papers

including the Courier, the Water Bucket, a temperance paper, and the Free Soil Union.

• Early reform interest was confined primarily to the temperance movement, but long believed in equality of men and women

ABOUT AMELIA

ABOUT AMELIA (CONT.)

• Striked the promise to obey from her marriage vows• Attended the 1848 women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls

• Founded the Lily (a monthly journal)

“It is woman that speaks through the Lily. It is upon an important subject, too, that she comes before the public to be heard. Intemperance is the

great foe to her peace and happiness… surely she has a right to wield the pen for its suppression… It is this which she purposes to do in the

columns of the Lily” ~Amelia Bloomer (January 1st 1849)• The Lily soon began to include articles on women suffrage, property

rights, education, employment, and dress reform. Some articles were written by Elizabeth Cady Staton, but mostly by Amelia Bloomer.

• In 1851 she adopted the women’s clothing reform style, with which her name became linked because of her early and strong advocacy – she promoted the “bloomer costume” (short skirt and loose trousers that

gathered at the ankles) in the Lily• From 1871-1873 she served as president of the Iowa Women Suffrage

Association • Died: December 30th 1894

• Place of death: Council Bluffs, Iowa

“The costume of women should be suited to her wants and necessities. It should conduce at once to her health,

comfort, and usefulness; and, while it should not fail also to conduce to her personal adornment, it should make that

end of secondary importance.”

“The human mind must be active, and the thoughts of woman's heart must find vent in some way; and if the

garden of the mind instead of being highly cultivated, so that it may produce a rich harvest of fruits and flowers, is suffered to run to waste, it is not surprising that it yields

nothing but weeds, briars, and thorns.”

QUOTES

o The Lily influenced the way women thought and behaved in society, this includes the clothing reform (the

“Bloomer Costume”) and political reforms (she felt women needed to have more of a voice in government).

o Very successful in that women all over started to speak up and change their way of dress.

IMPACT

Petition written by Amelia Bloomer

An article from the Lily

1. What did Amelia truly believe in?

a) Women suffrage b) Equality between men and women

c) Men to have all power over women d) Women shouldn’t have a voice

2. What was the name of Amelia’s paper?

a) The Courier b) The Suffrage Movement

c) The Lily d) The Women’s voice

3. What did Amelia’s paper focus on?

a) Women suffrage, property rights, education, employment, and dress reform

b) Women suffrage and dress reform

c) No property rights and no taxation without representation

QUIZ

4. Explain what you believe Amelia’s purpose behind supporting the “bloomer costume” was.

5. What do you think inspired Amelia Bloomer to start writing and create the Lily?

Amelia Bloomer was the one who introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Staton.

FUN FACT

Information:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2529

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gonfishn/bhopci/b/bloomera.html

Garraty, John A., and Carnes Mark C. American National Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/ameliabloomer/a/amelia_bloomer.htm

Pictures:

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZCiCnl4-webx4bUTzqUP387wRCu-n-WFi8DopcO3lLLyzQbtaYw

http://faculty.elmira.edu/dmaluso/loislane/lily/lily.JPG

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlaUjcL8btFz07S9bHdRufqWZzKWgNkQWbyki8gKWsOAluRtwdYA

http://susannaives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/godeybathing7-64.jpg

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/70/c2/28/70c2284262668b0763875980d9f26b1e.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdHz7NH1__a_dcf0LApqkv-nCjYcHIu7fvAOTsXFa1ENx1LOJJ

CITATIONS