Mattie A. Freeman
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Mattie A. Freeman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 9, 1839 |
| Died | September 7, 1901 (aged 62) |
| Occupations | Freethinker, abolitionist, writer, lecturer |
| Organization(s) | Chicago Secular Union; American Secular Union |
| Movement | Freethought |
Mattie A. Freeman (9 August 1839[1] – 7 September 1901)[2][3] was an American freethinker, abolitionist, writer, and lecturer.[1] She became well known as a secularist speaker,[4] was corresponding secretary of the American Secular Union,[5] and was described by a correspondent of The Truth Seeker as a "feminine Ingersoll".[6]
Mattie A. Freeman was born in Sturgis, Michigan on 9 August 1839.[1] Her ancestors were French and German, Americanized by generations.[1] Her father was a freethinker (described as a "Thomas Paine Infidel"),[5] while her mother was a Baptist.[1] Her maternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Ann Harris, was cousin to John Quincy Adams.[5] Though her mother tried to keep the children from what she considered the contamination of infidelity - bringing them to revivals and other Baptist experiences - Mattie became a freethinker in her early youth.[1]
An intelligent child, Freeman devoted herself to the study of science fiction, literature, and philosophy.[5] Her first public discussion was at the age of fourteen, after an associate editor of a weekly newspaper had written an article on the inferiority of women.[1] Using a pen-name, the schoolgirl responded, the controversy enduring across several issues.[1]
At fifteen, she taught her first school.[1] It was a failure, with the older students refusing to obey her, and she abandoned the venture after six weeks.[1] Around that time she heard reformer and abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster speak on abolition, inspiring her own hatred of slavery.[1] Soon after, invited to speak publicly, she delivered a radical anti-slavery speech.[1] Later, Freeman was hired to take charge of a winter school, receiving 1/3 of the pay that had been given to the male teachers, but praised for her work.[1] Soon after the war, in a city in Illinois, she heard a prominent minister preach a scathing sermon against women.[1] Indignant, a committee of the suffrage association asked Freeman to reply.[1] She consented, giving a well-received response, and went on to deliver many public lectures.[1] M.M. Trumbull of Chicago later wrote:
I am always delighted and instructed when I hear Mrs Freeman lecture. Mrs Freeman's voice should be heard in the largest halls in the city, aye, and beyond the city too, for I believe I am quite within bounds when I say there is not in this whole country three women of equal genius.[5]
After the Great Chicago Fire OF 1871, Freeman devoted herself to literary work, writing for four years for a Chicago paper.[1] She also authored a number of serials, short stories and sketches, including Somebody's Ned (1850) - a story of prison reform.[1]
