What do you know about Victoria Woodhull? Do you even know the name? We aren’t surprised if you don’t because there was a serious push to erase Victoria Woodhull from the names of formative feminist for being too radical. And we kind of love that about her.
Victoria Woodhull lived a hundred lives in her one life. Before she was 30 she had been a preacher, a clairvoyant, a child star on the Spiritualism market, the breadwinner in a family of like 100, a child bride, a cigar girl, an actress, a maybe sex worker, a mother of two, and a divorcee (…maybe bigamist?).
But what is she most famous for? Being the first woman to run for president in the 1872 election cycle, about 50 years before women even had the right to vote in the United States.
Early Llife
Victoria started her life in a poor household. And when we say poor, we mean dirt poor. Her dad was literally a snake oil salesman who struggled to put food on the table. Then, he learned about The Fox Sisters.
If you’re a Patreon supporter, maybe you’ve heard the episode we have on The Fox Sisters, but if not here’s what you need to know. The Fox sisters were a famous trio of young girls who claimed they could talk to the dead. And they got super famous off of this claim.
This was in a time in America (right after the Civil war) when people are flocking towards a movement called the Spiritualist Movement where seances and Ouija boards were really having a moment. And the Fox sisters capitalized on this. And then, so did the Victoria’s family.
But life as a child preacher was tough on Vicky and there was only one way to escape an exploitative childhood back then and that was to get married. But unfortunately, that guy was a loser with a drinking problem, which left Victoria alone and broke (again).
But then, she met the Colonel.
Second Marriage and Move to New York
James Blood aka The Blood Colonel, and Victoria Woodhull met while they were still married to other folks. Both active Spiritualists, they believed that the spirits wanted them to be together, so who were they to argue? The couple, along with Victoria’s 2 kids and sister, Tennessee, packed up and moved to New York City!
Once in New York City, Victoria and Tennessee start making a name for themselves. They got in good with Cornelius Vanderbilt who took them under his wing and taught them how to become the first lady stockbrokers!
In this episode, Vicky also falls in with “it” crowd, and by that we clearly mean the suffragettes of the late 1800’s. DUH. We meet some major players like Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
And everyone is super impressed with how accomplished this girl already is. She’s working as a stockbroker, owns her own newspaper and has even spoken in front of Congress arguing that actually… women already have the right to vote under the 14th and 15th amendments.
Presidential Run
SO, Vicky had already been the first woman to speak in front of congress and the first female stock broker, so she thought she’d just keep running with this #FIRST energy and throw her hat in the ring for US President!
Side note: she was not old enough to run for president, so it is contested if she was legally the first woman to actually run for president, but whatever.
Victoria went on to appoint famous smart man, and recently freed enslaved person, Frederick Douglas her running mate. One small problem… he did not know her, sooooooo….
“I don’t know her”
— Frederick Douglas, probably.
Also, if you want to learn more about her run, check out this video:
Vicky was, of course, torn apart by the press and given the pretty punk rock name of Mrs. Satan, which I understand was meant to be a diss.
Anyway, instead of celebrating election day as the first woman to run for president and all the fanfare that should follow, she instead found herself in jail….what, what?
That’s right! But you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out why and who that fucking guy that put her there was.
Honestly, there’s just too much to properly recap here. Rags to riches to rags to riches to rags TO RICHES again! Vicky was not perfect, but she was also never boring.
Cheers, bitches!
- The History Chicks have an excellent episode on Vicky.
- Woodhull Rising is an incredible site dedicated to Victoria Woodhull and offers a directory more or less, in case you need help remembering who is who in this crazy family.
- Nicole Evelina‘s page has some great and detailed articles on her life. I specifically found her articles on Canning the most helpful.
- Newspaper clipping from the gallery above from here.