1837 Ernestine Rose

Ernestine Rose was an atheist, a feminist, and an abolitionist known as “Queen of the Platform.” Born in 1810 in Poland, she refused to marry the man her father had chosen for her. She then traveled to Berlin, Paris, England, and finally New York, where she began her political activity. By 1850, she was central to the women’s rights, anti-slavery, and free thought movements, in which she was the only foreigner, the only atheist, and the only Jew. Following the Civil War, she returned to England, where she continued her activism in the free thought and women’s movements.