After a brief hiatus due to the very hectic budget season we our back with Wednesday's Woman of the Week! This week we are highlighting the suffragist and Native American activist, Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Gage was a native New Yorker born in Cicero, NY. After settling in Fayettville, NY she made her home a stop on the Underground Railroad. Gage was an abolitionist who faced prison for her actions under the Fugitive Slave
Law of 1850 which criminalized assistance to escaped slaves. Even though she
was beset by both financial and physical (cardiac) problems throughout her
life, her work for women's rights was extensive, practical, and often
brilliantly executed.
Although Gage was able to speak at the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls she went on to address the third National Convention in Syracuse. Later in life Gage focused her attention on the brutal and unfair treatment of Native Americans.
Gage was a major playing in both the suffrage and abolition movements. Her home remains as a historical site in Fayettville where visitors can tour the home and even sit on her antique furniture. To learn more visit:
http://www.matildajoslyngage.org/ 
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