Anna Elizabeth Dickinson

One of the most romantic figures of the nineteenth century, the “girl orator” of the Civil War era lyceum (or lecture) circuit, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson enchanted the antebellum United States with her passion for justice. When she was just eighteen years old, Dickinson addressed the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society with a speech entitled “The Rights and Wrongs of Women.” It launched a wildly successful career on the lecture circuit. In 1864, she became the first woman to address the House of Representatives.