Emma Goldman, known for her advocacy of women’s rights and social justice, was arrested in New York City for giving lectures and distributing information about birth control.
Accusations were made against her for breaching the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibited the mailing or interstate distribution of contraceptive devices and related information. Besides her commitment to women’s reproductive rights, Goldman—who faced conviction and imprisonment—also championed various contentious causes, such as anarchism, free speech, and atheism. Affectionately dubbed “Red Emma,” this progressive figure was arrested several times due to her activism.
Goldman was born in 1869 into a impoverished Jewish family in Russia. At the age of sixteen, she escaped her homeland in 1885, ultimately settling in Rochester, New York. There, she worked in a factory, became active in the labor movement, and protested against deplorable working conditions, advocating for unions and an eight-hour workday. The Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886 significantly influenced her; it was a labor rally organized by anarchists that resulted in a violent clash with police, leading to the convictions and hangings of four anarchists. Later, she moved to New York City, where she became involved with the anarchist movement and formed a romantic relationship with fellow Russian anarchist Alexander Berkman.
In 1892, Berkman attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, the Carnegie Steel owner, in response to a violent workers’ strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Although Berkman was imprisoned for this act, Goldman was spared prosecution due to insufficient evidence linking her to the plot.
In New York, Goldman worked as a nurse and midwife among impoverished populations. Her experiences reinforced her belief that access to birth control was vital for women’s improvement in life and the attainment of economic and sexual equality. As a proficient writer, editor, and public speaker, she addressed issues of contraception and mentored Margaret Sanger, the pioneering advocate for birth control who later founded what would become Planned Parenthood.
In 1916, Sanger established America’s inaugural birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, New York, but it was forcibly shut down by law enforcement after just 10 days. Sanger succeeded in opening the first legal birth-control clinic in the U.S. in 1923. Following an amendment to the Comstock Act in 1936, physicians in America acquired the legal authority to prescribe and distribute contraceptives via mail and across state lines. The first birth-control pill was approved for sale by the FDA in 1960.
Goldman’s activism extended beyond women’s reproductive rights; she was also a staunch anti-war advocate. In 1917, she and Berkman were arrested for opposing America’s entry into World War I and the draft. Each served two years in prison before being expelled back to Russia.
Goldman spent the remainder of her life across Russia, Europe, and Canada, passing away in Toronto in 1940 at the age of 70. She was interred in the German Waldheim Cemetery near Chicago, a burial ground for the Haymarket anarchists and other political activists.
