28: Victoria Woodhull and Rachel Carson

No Ordinary Women

From poverty to power, Victoria Claflin was a force to be reckoned with. Born in 1838, she claimed to communicate with spirits and had clairvoyance abilities. She married young, but divorced her alcoholic and cheating husband to become an advocate for the free love movement. With her sister, she became a successful medium and caught the eye of Cornelius Vanderbilt, using his financial advice to start a brokerage firm on Wall Street. Victoria used her success to promote women's rights and in 1872, became the first woman to run for president.

Lynn tells us about Rachel Carson, a Marine Biologist, Novelist, and Environmentalist who inspired the modern environmental movement in the United States. She broke down barriers and changed the nation's perception of the dangers of man-made chemicals. Rachel inherited her mother's passion for the environment and published her first article in a children's magazine at the age of 10. Despite financial limitations, she went on to earn a master's degree in biology and became the second woman hired by the US Bureau of Fisheries. She published several prize-winning studies, including The Sea Around Us. Rachel resigned from the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1951 to pursue writing full-time. In 1962, she published Silent Spring, which questioned the reckless use of synthetic chemical pesticides after WWII. The book sparked controversy, but Rachel refused to be silenced. Her work influenced the government's policies and helped to shape the modern environmental movement.

Thank you to our sources!

• Photo
• Photo
• Photo
• Top 10 Facts about Rachel Carson - Discover Walks Blog
• The Right Way to Remember Rachel Carson | The New Yorker
• Rachel Carson | National Women's History Museum
• 60 Years in Print Silent Spring
• Henry Ward Beecher - Wikipedia
• Victoria Woodhull - Wikipedia
• Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly - Wikipedia
• Victoria Woodhull
• 9 things you should know about Victoria Woodhull
• Biography: Victoria Woodhull