Rosa Miller Avery

Rosa Miller Avery
"A Woman of the Century"
"A Woman of the Century"
BornRosa Mary Miller
May 21, 1830
Madison, Ohio, U.S.
DiedNovember 9, 1894
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Pen name
  • Sue Smith
  • unknown male pseudonyms
Occupation
  • abolitionist
  • political reformer
  • suffragist
  • writer
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Cyrus Avery
​
(m. 1853)​
RelativesRachel Foster Avery (daughter-in-law)

Rosa Miller Avery née, Miller; (pen name, Sue Smith and unknown male pseudonyms; May 21, 1830 – November 9, 1894) was an American abolitionist, political reformer,[1] second-generation suffragist, and writer.

Avery's childhood home was a noted "underground railroad station".[2] As an adult, while living in Ashtabula, Ohio, she organized the first anti-slavery society of that time in that section of the United States. During the Civil War, she wrote constantly for the various papers and journals of that day on the union and emancipation, using a male pseudonym in order to gain attention. Many of her articles and responses to the opponents of franchise for women appeared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Her later writing, signed under "Sue Smith", were on social questions and topics useful to young people. After removing to Chicago, she took up the work of social purity and equal suffrage, writing many articles for the Chicago press on these subjects.[3][4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference virginia.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Wickham 1896, p. 216.
  3. ^ Logan 1912, p. 589.
  4. ^ Herringshaw 1909, p. 179.