Alice Henry: The Power of Pen and Voice: The Life of an Australian-American Labor Reformer

by Diane Kirkby

• ISBN13: 9780521523240
• ISBN10: 0521523249
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this, the first biography of Alice Henry (18571943), Diane Kirkby presents us with an intelligent, formidable woman of great energy who was a pioneer in both the Australian and American labour movements early this century and a feminist who fought for the rights of millions of women in both countries. After a childhood largely spent in the Australian bush, Alice Henry became a journalist and suffragist in Melbourne, where she witnessed the growth and upheavals of the Australian labour movement and consequent experiments in state regulation of industrial relations. During her 28 years in America she became a prominent figure in the Women's Trade Union league and campaigned for the rights of wage-earning women using her powers of 'pen and voice' as a writer and lecturer. Through empathising with Alice Henry, readers can increase their understanding of a critical period in history, when progressive networks were far more international than might be expected and women played a central role in the creation of the welfare state.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vi
Acknowledgements	viii
Abbreviations	x
Introduction	xi
Childhood in a new country: The Early Years, 1857--1884	1	(35)
The sistership of womanhood: An International Feminist, 1884--1905	36	(32)
Suffragizing the labor movement: Working for the Wtul, 1906--1910	68	(35)
Not mere philanthropy: Editing Life and Labor, 1911--1915	103	(29)
The trade union woman: Feminism and Industrial Legislation, 1915--1920	132	(41)
Tapping the untouched possibilities: Educating Women for Industrial Democracy, 1920--1926	173	(33)
Letters and a common past: The Numbing Defeat of Old Age, 1927--1943	206	(26)
Epilogue	232	(5)
Bibliographic Essay	237	(6)
Index	243