JP Women Played Big Role in Suffrage Movement

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Judith Winsor Smith, who for decades fought for women's suffrage, spent the last part of her long life in Jamaica Plain.

Via Jamaica Plain Historical Society

Judith Winsor Smith, who for decades fought for women's suffrage, spent the last part of her long life in Jamaica Plain.

Judith Winsor Smith, who for decades fought for women's suffrage, spent the last part of her long life in Jamaica Plain.

Via Jamaica Plain Historical Society

Judith Winsor Smith, who for decades fought for women's suffrage, spent the last part of her long life in Jamaica Plain.

Tuesday is Women's Equality Day, which celebrates women in the U.S. winning the right to vote. It won't surprise you to know that JP has long been a hotbed of activism on behalf of women's rights. Here are a few feminist forebears with ties to JP.

For more on all the women below, please visit the Jamaica Plain Historical Society's web site.

Judith Winsor Smith: She cast her first ballot in 1920 at the age of 99 after a lifetime of working for women's rights.

Lucy Stone: Buried at Forest Hills Cemetery, Stone was the first Bay State woman to receive a college degree.

Alice Stone Blackwell: Daughter of Lucy Stone, also buried at Forest Hills Cemetery. She edited the Women's Journal for a quarter of a century.

Ednah Dow Cheney: Suffragist and President of the New England Hospital for Women and Children.

Susan Walker FitzGerald: Lived at 7 Greenough Ave. and was the first female Democrat elected to the state legislature.

Elizabeth Peabody: She lived at 8 Gordon St. and was mother of the kindergarten movement.

Read more about these extraordinary JP women at the JP Historical Society.

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