Henry Bailey Stevens
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Henry Bailey Stevens | |
|---|---|
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| Born | July 13, 1891 |
| Died | 16 March 1976 (aged 84) |
| Occupations | Playwright, writer |
Henry Bailey Stevens (13 July 1891 – 16 March 1976) was an American author, playwright and vegetarianism activist.
Stevens was born in 1891 in Hooksett, New Hampshire.[1] He graduated from Manchester Central High School and Dartmouth College. From 1912, he worked for the Woman's Journal, a women's rights periodical in Boston.[1] Stevens married Agnes Ryan, the managing editor of the Woman's Journal, in 1915.[1] In 1917 Stevens and Ryan resigned from the Woman's Journal, due in part to their opposition to World War I, a belief not generally shared by the suffrage movement.[1]
Stevens lived with his wife in an old farmstead at the edge of Durham, New Hampshire.[2] Stevens directed the University of New Hampshire Agricultural Station and Cooperative Extension Service from 1918 until his retirement in 1956.[3]
Vegetarianism
Stevens and his wife were associated with the Millennium Guild, an animal rights organization.[4] In 1949, Curtis Freshel awarded $1,000 to Stevens for the best humanitarian work of the year.[5]
Stevens believed that humans were originally pacifists and vegetarians.[6] He authored The Recovery of Culture, in 1949. The book argues that early humans made the mistake of changing from vegetarianism to flesh-eating and that soil erosion, starving peoples and war is the result.[7] He recommended for people to return to an agricultural plant based culture.
Stevens was a vice-president of the International Vegetarian Union.[8] He attended the 1975 World Vegetarian Congress.[9]
Death
Stevens died from natural causes on 16 March 1976 at the age of 85.[10]
