Biography on Victoria Woodhull

THE BIOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA WOODHULL

A Leader in the Suffrage Movement

The tough and colorful early life of Victoria Woodhull was instrumental in the development of a woman who would later become a leader in the women’s suffrage movement.

Introduction

Victoria is my hero. As I was conducting my research to determine which American woman I would write about, I ran across the My Hero Project, a website of educators that use media and technology to empower people to affect positive change in the world (www.myhero.com). I scanned the work of Barbara Goldsmith, who penned an article about Victoria Woodhull, which led me to her book, Other Powers. As I explored the unique and fascinating life of Victoria California Claflin Woodhull, I realized that her flawed early life, her inherent business sense, her spiritual intensity and her philosophy of a sexual revolution prepared her for a not only leadership role in the suffrage movement, but to also conduct a premeditated assault on the conservative political establishment. She was a bundle of contradictions, but her philosophies and her actions were several generations ahead of her time.

Early Life

Victoria California Claflin was born into a large family of a con artist and a religious fanatic and as Mary Gabriel explains in her book, Notorious Victoria, Victoria was a gifted child in a family considered town trash with a father as a one-man crime spree and a mother who communicated with spirits. While her parents may have been illiterate and did not provide Victoria a formal education past the third grade, they were clever, and exploited their children through various failed money making schemes and hired out as menial labor and as a clairvoyant and medium. One younger sister, Tennessee, became a protégé' of Victoria's, shared her beauty, and followed in her footsteps in business and sexual philosophy. Life was harsh for Victoria under the abusive hand of her alcoholic father...