Mary Elizabeth Lease
American political activist (1850–1933) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mary Elizabeth Lease (September 11, 1850[lower-alpha 1] – October 29, 1933) was an American lecturer, writer, Georgist,[1] and political activist. She was an advocate of the suffrage movement as well as temperance[citation needed] but she was best known for her work with the People's Party (Populists).
Mary Elizabeth Lease | |
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Born | Mary Elizabeth Clyens September 11, 1850 |
Died | October 29, 1933(1933-10-29) (aged 83) |
Occupation(s) | Lecturer, editor, writer |
Political party | People's Party |
Spouse |
Charles L. Lease
(m. 1873–1902) |
Parents |
|
Signature | |
She was born to Irish immigrants Joseph P. and Mary Elizabeth Murray Clyens (an anglicization of the Gaelic name Mac Giolla Chaillín), in Ridgway, Pennsylvania.
She made her political debut in 1888 with the Union Labor Party or Socialist Labor Party and soon joined the Farmers' Alliance or Populist Party. She was referred to as the "People's Joan of Arc". In that party's 1890 campaign she made more than 160 speeches and claimed credit for the defeat of Kansas senator John Ingalls. (William A. Peffer was elected on the Populist ticket.)
She opposed big business and stated flatly that "Wall Street owns the country."[2] She was called "Our Queen Mary" while campaigning with the Populists candidate James B. Weaver during his 1892 run for president,[3] and also "Mother Lease" by her supporters, as well as, "Mary Yellin" by some of her enemies.
In 1895, she wrote The Problem of Civilization Solved. In 1896, she moved to New York City where she edited the democratic newspaper, World. In addition, she worked as an editor for the National Encyclopedia of American Biography.
Lease died in Callicoon, New York.