Amelia
Jenks
was born in Homer, New York, on 27th May, 1818. She only received
two years of formal schooling and at the age of 22 married the lawyer
Dexter Bloomer. He
was a Quaker with progressive views
and encouraged Amelia to write for his newspaper, the Seneca
Falls County Courier.
Over the next few years she wrote articles in favour for prohibition
and women's rights.
In 1848 Bloomer attended the Woman's
Rights Convention
at Seneca Falls where she met Susan Anthony
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. With the
encouragement of her feminist friends, Bloomer started her own bi-weekly
newspaper, The
Lily.
Over the next few years Bloomer used the journal to promote the causes
of woman's suffrage, temperance,
marriage law reform and higher education for women.
The
Lily
was a great success and quickly built a circulation of over 4,000.
In 1851 Bloomer began to publish articles concerning women's clothing.
Female fashion at the time consisted of tightly laced corsets, layers
of petticoats and floor-length dresses. Bloomer began to advocate
the wearing of clothes that had first been worn by Fanny
Wright and the women living in the socialist
commune, New Harmony in the 1820s. This included loose bodices, ankle-length
pantaloons and a dress cut to above the knee.
Bloomer and other campaigners for women's rights such as Susan
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
began wearing these clothes. Most feminists abandoned this type of
clothing as they concluded that the ridicule it frequently elicited
undermined attempts to convince people of the need for social reform.
However, Bloomer, continued to wear these clothes until the late 1850s.
The
Lily
ceased publication after Bloomer moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa in
1855. She continued to play an active role in the campaign for women's
rights and as well as speaking at public meetings was president
of the Iowa
Woman Suffrage Association
(1871-73). Amelia
Bloomer
died at Council Buffs, Iowa,
on 30th December, 1894.
Punch Magazine (1858)
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
