America’s Joan of Arc Visits Plattsburgh

On a cold, snowy January evening in 1874, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson became one of the first women of national prominence to speak on woman suffrage in Clinton County. Those gathering to hear her at the Palmer Hall, located upstairs at 60 Margaret Street in downtown Plattsburgh, were described as the most intellectual and cultivated in the community. The crowd that night would have known her reputation.

Anna was born in 1842 into a Philadelphian Quaker family. Her father was an abolitionist. She was educated at the Friends’ Select School in Philadelphia and acknowledged as a gifted speaker and prodigy. Her first speaking engagement was in 1860 at age 18 when she addressed the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. In early 1861, when she spoke in Philadelphia on “Women’s Rights and Wrongs”, her career on the circuit began. By 1863 her reputation grew and her name appeared in local papers for her anti-slavery stand during the Civil War. She was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party but not always of Lincoln, whom she felt was too moderate. Her status was elevated by some to the ‘Joan of Arc’ of the union cause. In 1864 she was the first woman to speak before Congress. After the war, she resumed her speaking career promoting Negro equality and women’s rights.

By 1874 Anna had been on the speaking circuit for nearly 15 years. During the 1871-72 lecture season she spoke almost every night from October to April commanding from $150 to $400 a night, the equivalent in today’s dollars of between $2,800 and $7,500 per night. At her peak, she earned more than Mark Twain. Her speeches were on The Rights and Wrongs of Women, Reconstruction, Women’s Work and Wages, and Between Us Be Truth (the social evil of venereal disease). Before arriving in Plattsburgh, she had started an acting career, climbed Pike’s Peak, and traveled the nation to give her orations on negro and woman suffrage. It is unclear which organization in Plattsburgh sponsored her lecture or if admission was charged.

She entered the Palmer Hall stage not as the audience expected a radical, nonconformist to appear.  Her rich brown silk dress included a train. There were diamonds on her ears, neck, and fingers. Her passport described her as 5’ 2” with large gray eyes, a fair complexion, a large Grecian nose, full lips, a round chin, and a round face. Her voice was rich, deep, and mellow, with a style betraying her Quaker training using biblical words. Her stage presence was not that of a petite woman, and she used the entire stage to deliver her speech. She was a dramatic actress with a message. The title of her address was ‘What’s to Hinder Women from Helping Themselves?’

She began with the premise women are weak and dependent and need to understand how to overcome their ‘disabilities.’ Women are their own worst enemy. Due to their typically gentle upbringing, women are not toughened for real work as their brothers are. Further, in order for women to do men’s work they needed to have the same training. There would be no free ride. One will not get something for nothing. If all women are waiting for is marriage, they are not fitting themselves for good work and will not receive rewards for good work. “The key of a woman’s success is in the brain and in the skill and cunning handle craft that come only with practice.” An Essex County Republican reporter felt she did far more than other female orators in the country to create “a correct public sentiment for the best interests of her sex”.

After Anna’s 1874 lecture, Plattsburgh organizations started to host lectures by other noted suffrage supporters such as Wendell Phillips and Susan B. Anthony. But it would be 43 years before women in Plattsburgh would receive the right to vote in state and federal elections. Her death in 1932 was not noted in our local papers. She’s buried in Slate Hill Cemetery, Goshen, N.Y. with a marker by her grave that reads “America’s Civil War Joan of Arc.” Her quote on the marker is “My head and heart, soul and brain, were all on fire with the words I must speak.” Anna’s footprint could be clearly seen as Clinton County women actively began the fight for their right to vote.

For more information on Anna Dickinson, email director@clintoncountyhistorical.org.

‍