Olive Stott Gabriel

Olive Stott Gabriel
Born(1872-09-26)September 26, 1872
Portland, Oregon, US
DiedMay 6, 1944(1944-05-06) (aged 71)
Portland, Oregon, US
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Lawyer and activist
Political partyRepublican

Olive Stott Gabriel (September 26, 1872[1] – May 6, 1944[2]) was an American activist, clubwoman, and lawyer, active in Republican politics in New York City. She served as president of the National Association of Women Lawyers in the early 1930s and was a champion of many Progressive Era feminist causes, such as women's suffrage and the campaign against prostitution.

Early life and career

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Gabriel was born in Portland, Oregon, to Fielding Denny Stott, a farmer and businessperson; and Mary Ellen Stott, née Perry, a businessperson,[3] teacher and depot agent.[1][4] Mary, a cousin of Oliver Hazard Perry,[1] was "an earnest and enthusiastic worker for female suffrage, higher education and kindred reforms."[3] The family lived in Yamhill County.[4]

Gabriel graduated from New York University School of Law with an LL.B in 1902 and LL.M. in 1903.[5][6] In 1906, she became inaugural second vice president of the Women's Association of the Bar (or the Women's Bar Association of New York), described by The New York Times at the time as the first women's bar association in the world.[1][6][7][8]

She married Adolphe J. Gabriel in Milwaukee on January 13, 1896,[1] following which the couple moved to New York.[9]

Gabriel had settled in Greenwich Village by the early 1900s, with a residence at 77 Washington Place (40°43′56.3″N 73°59′58.9″W / 40.732306°N 73.999694°W / 40.732306; -73.999694).[1] She later moved to 78 East 96th Street in the Upper East Side (40°47′12.6″N 73°57′09.1″W / 40.786833°N 73.952528°W / 40.786833; -73.952528),[6] and then back downtown to 45 West 11th Street (40°44′06.4″N 73°59′47.9″W / 40.735111°N 73.996639°W / 40.735111; -73.996639).[10] She maintained a general law practice,[7] with offices at 220 Broadway (40°42′40.5″N 74°0′30.6″W / 40.711250°N 74.008500°W / 40.711250; -74.008500) as of 1906.[6]

Suffrage movement

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Further information: Women's suffrage in the United States

In 1909, Gabriel was part of a group of suffrage activists that went to Albany to campaign for passage of state-level legislation for women's suffrage.[11]

In 1913, Gabriel delivered a petition demanding suffrage for women to Washington, D.C, as part of a nationwide petition campaign that summer urging passage of a Senate resolution to extend the franchise.[12][13]

Home front in World War I

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Further information: United States home front during World War I

During World War I, Gabriel was active in the War Camp Community Service,[9] a program that provided assistance and entertainment for soldiers in training at military bases in the United States.[14]

As of 1918, she chaired the Employment Department of the New York Mayor's Committee of Women on National Defense, in which capacity she "ma[de] a special attempt to place plain, middle-aged women in war work."[15][a]

"White slavery"

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Further information: Prostitution in the United States

As Ellen DuBois has explained, Progressive Era feminists and women's groups were opposed to prostitution and so-called "white slavery," which they regarded as the fate of "sexual innocents" who "fell" into unfortunate conditions.[16] Gabriel was no exception.

As of 1917, Gabriel was involved in a campaign to provide legal counsel to women prosecuted in New York City's women-only night court.[17] Following a campaign by the Committee of Fourteen and others,[18][b] the court had been established on September 1, 1910, in an attempt to reduce the perceived perils of the city's night court system, which had originally placed women and men in the same holding cells.[19] Women tried in the night court were typically charged with "vagrancy,"[19] a vague, catch-all charge that was typically used to arrest sex workers, so-called "degenerates," and other marginalized people.[20]

In a 1918 book, Rose Falls Bres described Gabriel as having "an international reputation among those who labor to save and secure young girls who have drifted from the strait [sic] and narrow way or who have been the victims of the white slave traffic."[5]

Republican politics

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Further information: Fourth Party System
The convention hall at the 1920 Republican National Convention. Gabriel served as an alternate.

In 1918, Gabriel served as campaign manager to A. Parker Nevin, a Republican candidate for the New York Supreme Court.[21] In July 1918, she was a delegate to the New York State Republican convention for Manhattan's 10th Assembly District, along with a number of other suffrage activists.[22] In 1919, she helped to form the National Woman's Republican Association in New York.[23]

In 1920, Gabriel supported James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.'s campaign for the Republican Senate nomination.[24] This was a somewhat curious endorsement, given Gabriel's suffrage activism, as Wadsworth opposed extending the franchise to women—and the fact that the 1920 election was the first in which women were able to vote.[25] Nonetheless, as a number of other prominent Republican women including Henrietta Wells Livermore endorsed Wadsworth (despite a campaign against him by Mary Garrett Hay),[25] it seems likely that Gabriel was convinced to side with the Livermore faction.

In June 1920, Gabriel was an alternate delegate to the 1920 Republican National Convention, at which Warren G. Harding received the Republican nomination.[26] She had organized voters for Harding, as against Frank Orren Lowden, then the Governor of Illinois.[27] She served as an alternate for New York's 14th Assembly district, for which the primary delegates were Fiorello La Guardia and Samuel S. Koenig.[28]

As of 1922, Gabriel was a Republican Party official in New York's 10th Assembly District.[10][29] She initially endorsed La Guardia for mayor in 1921,[10] but switched her endorsement to Manhattan Borough President Henry H. Curran (not to be confused with Henry M. Curran) shortly thereafter once Republican leadership settled on Curran as their preferred candidate to counter the incumbent Tammany Hall ally John Francis Hylan.[30]

In September 1922, she was voted out of office as "co-leader" of the 10th Assembly District committee. In a speech after the vote, she denounced Tammany Hall boss Charles F. Murphy and Republican leader Samuel S. Koenig, who, she alleged, had combined to subvert John P. Cohalan's election as New York Surrogate.[31][32] She spoke passionately in favor of Cohalan, on whose campaign she had worked.[31][33] She would later attribute the Republican Party's losses in the 1922 elections to a lack of women in leadership positions.[33]

Gabriel was a correspondent of Senator William Borah. Borah wrote to her on March 7, 1924 regarding the Teapot Dome scandal and related upheavals in the Harding administration, suggesting that Republicans ought to "clean out" their ranks in response.[34]

National Association of Women Lawyers

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Gabriel (front left) was part of a delegation sent by the National Association of Women Lawyers to President Herbert Hoover in 1930.

Gabriel became president of the National Association of Women Lawyers in 1930 and continued to serve for several years in the early 1930s.[35][36]

In October 1930, Gabriel was one of three lawyers selected by the New York City Federation of Women's Clubs to respond to the arrest of Emma Swift Hammerstein (third wife of Oscar Hammerstein I) on vagrancy charges.[37] The charges, which many clubwomen took to be trumped-up, were among the catalysts for the investigation into corruption in New York City law and politics known as the Hofstadter Committee or Seabury Commission.[38] Among other things, the investigation revealed routine perjury by police in criminal cases.[39] In response, the group requested that Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, pardon women who had been convicted on the basis of falsified testimony.[40]

On December 13, 1933, Gabriel wrote to Roosevelt—now President—on behalf of the Association, requesting that the United States support inclusion of the following language in the Montevideo Convention:[41][c]

The Contracting Parties agree that from the going into effect of this treaty there shall be no distinction based on sex in their law and practice relating to nationality.

Ultimately, the language was not adopted.

In a 1934 speech to the National Association of Women Lawyers, Gabriel spoke out against the Codes of Fair Competition promulgated by the National Recovery Administration, alleging that they had the effect of "forc[ing] women back into the home."[42] She called on the federal government to provide assistance to unemployed women. She further stated:

We cautiously advanced in our seventy-five years of progress until now ... We must demand for our women employment, appointments, salaries and promotion on equal terms with men. We must stand squarely against all discrimination based on sex.[42]

Other activities

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Gabriel served as secretary of the "New Yorkers" club, founded February 4, 1907, whose "object" was to "facilitate social intercourse, broaden intellectuality, encourage congeniality and harmony and promote the general progress of New York women."[43]

As of 1916, Gabriel, along with Rose Falls Bres, founded a publication called Oyez that aimed to "draw the attention of women to their complete lack of legal status."[44]

In 1919, Gabriel sponsored a resolution by the New York Federation of Women's Clubs calling upon fashion designers to produce less revealing clothing.[45]

Gabriel opposed the League of Nations and, accordingly, was involved in an organization called the Special Campaign Committee of American Women Opposed to the League of Nations as of late 1919.[10][46][47]

In late 1920, Gabriel spoke at a rally at the Polo Grounds in honor of Terence MacSwiney, following his death in October 1920.[48]

See also

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Notes

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ For Gabriel's own description of the Employment Committee's activities, see The Activities of the Mayor's Committee of Women on National Defense, New York, 1918–1919. New York. 1919. pp. 14–15. OCLC 1038747270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  2. ^ For a contemporary account by supporter of the women's night court and a member of the Committee of Fourteen, see Whitin, Frederick H. (1914). "The Women's Night Court in New York City". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 52: 181–187. doi:10.1177/000271621405200122. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1012497. S2CID 144328646..
  3. ^ For background, see Scott, James Brown (October 1930). "Inter-American Commission of Women". The American Journal of International Law. 24 (4): 757–762. doi:10.2307/2190067. JSTOR 2190067.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Leonard, John W., ed. (1909). Who's Who in New York City and State (4th ed.). New York: L. R. Hamersly. p. 522 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "Suffrage Leader Dies". Delaware County Daily Times. May 11, 1944. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, eds. (1893). "Mary Perry Stott" . A Woman of the Century. Buffalo: Charles Wells Moulton.
  4. ^ a b Gaston, Joseph (1912). The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811–1912. Vol. 2. Chicago: S. J. Clarke. p. 868 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ a b Bres 1918, p. 36.
  6. ^ a b c d New York University General Alumni Society (1906). General Alumni Catalogue, 1833–1906. Vol. 2. p. 115. OCLC 1045557476 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ a b "New York's New Organization of Women Lawyers". The New York Times. January 21, 1906. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Roberts 1904, p. 128.
  9. ^ a b Chapple, Joe Mitchell (April 11, 1925). "Biographic Flashes: Face-to-Face with Famous Folk". Asbury Park Press – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b c d "Declares for La Guardia: Mrs. Olive Stott Gabriel Says He Fits the Bill for Mayor". The New York Times. August 1, 1921. p. 8. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020.
  11. ^ "Women in Albany in Ballot Battle". The New York Times. February 24, 1909. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  12. ^ "Many Live Wires in York State". The Woman's Journal. August 9, 1913. Gale WMGKPM672371789.
  13. ^ ""We the Undersigned": Suffragists Petition the Senate". United States Senate. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  14. ^ Lee, Joseph (1918). "War Camp Community Service". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 79: 189–194. doi:10.1177/000271621807900120. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1013978. S2CID 144155920.
  15. ^ Marshall, Marguerite Mooers (March 19, 1918). "Homely Girls' Champion Tells Why They Make Most Efficient Workers". The Evening World. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  16. ^ DuBois 1998, p. 141–42.
  17. ^ Gabriel, Olive Scott (July 29, 1917). "Mrs. Olive S. Gabriel's Cases That Support Inquiry's Findings". The Washington Post – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Chronopoulous, Themis (2011). "Morality, Social Disorder, and the Working Class in Times Square, 1892–1954". Australasian Journal of American Studies. 30 (1): 3. ISSN 1838-9554. JSTOR 23264163. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Perry 2019, p. 100.
  20. ^ Eskridge, William N. (2008). Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861–2003. New York: Penguin Books. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-670-01862-8. OCLC 191090440.
  21. ^ "Woman Campaign Manager, First Here, Makes Bow". New-York Tribune. October 26, 1918. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  22. ^ "35 Women Elected by Republicans to State Convention". New-York Tribune. July 11, 1918. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  23. ^ "G. O. P. Women Incorporate". Woman's Journal. 3 (32): 656. January 4, 1919. Gale UWNLYT502182136 – via Gale.
  24. ^ "Women Line Up in Wadsworth Fight". The Sun and New York Herald. February 11, 1920. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  25. ^ a b Goodier, Susan (2012). No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780252094675. OCLC 829905912. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  26. ^ "N. Y. to Send One Woman Delegate to Chicago". New-York Tribune. March 4, 1920. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020.
  27. ^ "Fair Rivals Unite to Elect Harding". The Sun and New York Herald. June 22, 1920. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  28. ^ Hart, George Luzerne (1920). Official Report of the Proceedings of the Seventeenth Republican National Convention. New York: The Tenny Press. p. 59. OCLC 1049944231.
  29. ^ District Leaders—Manhattan. New York: Press Pub. Co. 1922. p. 547. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  30. ^ "City Must Borrow to Meet Big Deficit". New-York Tribune. August 9, 1921. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  31. ^ a b "Drop Mrs. Gabriel as District Leader; 'A Plague on Both Your Houses,' She Says to Murphy and Koenig". The New York Times. September 24, 1922. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  32. ^ "Murphy Attacked by Jerome; Invited to Sue for Libel". The New York Times. October 7, 1922. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Lays Republican Losses to Exclusion of Women". New-York Tribune. November 14, 1922. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  34. ^ Bates, J. Leonard (January 1955). "The Teapot Dome Scandal and the Election of 1924". The American Historical Review. 60 (2): 303–322. doi:10.2307/1843188. JSTOR 1843188.
  35. ^ "Our New President - Olive Stott Gabriel". Women Lawyers' Journal. Vol. 18, no. 1. January 1930. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  36. ^ Irwin, Inez Haynes (1933). Angels and Amazons: A Hundred Years of American Women. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. p. 467. OCLC 1153314831 – via Internet Archive.
  37. ^ Perry 2019, p. 106.
  38. ^ Perry 2019, p. 98–99.
  39. ^ Perry 2019, p. 126–28.
  40. ^ Perry 2019, p. 131.
  41. ^ Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1969). Nixon, Edgar B. (ed.). Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs: January 1933–February 1934. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 530–641. ISBN 0-674-31815-3. OCLC 1149290011.
  42. ^ a b Associated Press (August 28, 1934). "Says World Curbs Women's Careers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  43. ^ Roberts 1904, p. 76.
  44. ^ "New Magazine Published by Women Lawyers". The Duluth Herald. October 12, 1916. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  45. ^ "Evening Gowns Are Too Scant, Club Women Declare". New-York Tribune. February 8, 1919. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  46. ^ "League of Nations Raked by Women". The Sun. August 14, 1919. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  47. ^ Cooper, John Milton. (2001). Breaking the heart of the world: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 212, n. 21. ISBN 9780521807869. OCLC 46504817 – via Internet Archive.
  48. ^ "35,000 Mourn for M'Swiney at Ball Park". New York Herald. November 1, 1920. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.

Sources

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