Jenova Martin
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by TechnoSquirrel69 (talk | contribs) 91 seconds ago. (Update timer) |
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Norwegian. (September 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Jenova Martin | |
|---|---|
 Jenova Martin in 1927 | |
| Born | 1866 Norway |
| Died | March 5, 1937 Hennepin County, Minnesota |
| Pen name | Mistocles |
| Notable works | Zoharita |
Jenova Martin (1866 – March 5, 1937) was a Norwegian-born American suffragist and writer. She was one of the founders of the Scandinavian Voting Association and from 1907 to 1913, she was the first president of the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association (SWSA), which fought for universal suffrage in the United States.
Early and personal life
[edit]Not much is known about Jenova Martin's early life. It is known that she was born in Norway and emigrated from Oslo to the United States in 1882.[1] She is said to have been married, however her husband's name is unknown.[2] She had a daughter.[3]
Campaigning for women's suffrage
[edit]Martin was one of the founders of the Scandinavian Voting Association.[4] From 1907 to 1914, Martin took an active part in the campaign for American women's suffrage. Martin was the first president of the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association from 1907 to 1913. After her retirement, she was succeeded by suffragette Nanna Mattson Jaeger.[2][5]
While she was president of the SWSA, Martin placed a large focus on the association's ethnicity. By looking at all the Scandinavian immigrant group (Norwegian, Swedish and Danish) as a whole, the membership would surpass all Scandinavian individual groups. As a Norwegian, Martin recruited many other Norwegians through various Norwegian cultural events, such as plays, speeches and lobbying campaigns. She was concerned with preserving the Scandinavian cultural heritage, in contrast with her successor Jaeger who championed the assimilation into American populace.[6]
Martin gave speeches in both Norwegian and English while garnering support for women's rights. When Minnesota's neighbouring state of North Dakota prepared to vote on a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution, Martin travelled there to give speeches in both languages and to advise local suffragettes.[2][4] Her most famous speech was The Great Awakening, which she delivered at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association in 1908.[2]
Between 1909 and 1922, Martin often contributed editorials to newspapers such as the Star Tribune and Minneapolis Star, expressing her progressive ideas. Martin also was a part of several clubs such as the Progressive Literary Club.[4]
Later life
[edit]After leaving the SWSA in 1913, Martin shifted her focus onto the socialist movement. She wrote and lectured on these subjects as well as focusing more on her writing, and spent less time on the suffrage movement after 1914.[5]
In 1917, she published the play Zoharita under the pseudonym Mistocles.[7]
Martin died on March 5, 1937, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, at the age of 71.[3][4]
References
[edit]- ^ "Aftenposten, mandag 12 April 1937". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway. 12 April 1937.
- ^ a b c d Peterson, Anna Marie (2011). "Adding 'A Little Suffrage Spice to the Melting Pot': Minnesota's Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association." Minnesota History 67, no. 8 (Winter 2011)" (PDF). Minnesota History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
- ^ a b "Mrs. Jenova Martin". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. March 6, 1937. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Cudmore, Victoria. "Biographical Sketch of Jenova Martin". Alexander Street. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
- ^ a b ""Half the population, namely the women, are governed without their consent. If there is a woman here who does not rebel against these conditions she is stupid or yet asleep."". Minnesota History Society. Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
- ^ Loetscher, Elizabeth. "Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association". Mnopedia. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
- ^ Mistocles; Jenova Martin (1917). Zoharita. Minneapolis: Hamann press.
- 1863 births
- 1937 deaths
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American essayists
- 20th-century American poets
- 20th-century Norwegian poets
- 20th-century American women writers
- 20th-century Norwegian women writers
- American women essayists
- Norwegian women essayists
- Norwegian suffragists
- Norwegian emigrants to the United States
- Suffragists from Minnesota
- American socialist feminists
- Minnesota socialists