Suffragist, Medical Doctor. Emily Miller Pierson earned a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1907 and a master's from Columbia University in 1908. After graduation, she taught English at Bristol High School. In 1909, she became involved in the suffrage cause co-founding the Hartford Equal Franchise League with fellow women's rights supporter Katharine Houghton Hepburn. By 1910, she worked as primary organizer for the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, a position that she continued until 1917 when she resigned to join the Connecticut Branch of the National Woman's Party under the direction of the militant Alice Paul. In the late 1910s, Pierson took a new job teaching English at DePauw University and eventually returned to graduate school. She completed a medical degree at Yale University in 1924 where she was the only woman in her class. After graduation, she opened a medical practice in Cromwell where she worked as the local health director and the town's primary school physician. During this time, she befriended Anna Louise Strong, a controversial American journalist who wrote on international affairs, and Pierson travelled extensively, studying for a period in Moscow. She lectured throughout Connecticut on politics and her experiences abroad. She also helped with her family's floral business A.N. Pierson Corp until her death due to pneumonia at age 89.
[Submitted By: K012/GIB]
[Submitted By: K012/GIB]
Suffragist, Medical Doctor. Emily Miller Pierson earned a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1907 and a master's from Columbia University in 1908. After graduation, she taught English at Bristol High School. In 1909, she became involved in the suffrage cause co-founding the Hartford Equal Franchise League with fellow women's rights supporter Katharine Houghton Hepburn. By 1910, she worked as primary organizer for the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, a position that she continued until 1917 when she resigned to join the Connecticut Branch of the National Woman's Party under the direction of the militant Alice Paul. In the late 1910s, Pierson took a new job teaching English at DePauw University and eventually returned to graduate school. She completed a medical degree at Yale University in 1924 where she was the only woman in her class. After graduation, she opened a medical practice in Cromwell where she worked as the local health director and the town's primary school physician. During this time, she befriended Anna Louise Strong, a controversial American journalist who wrote on international affairs, and Pierson travelled extensively, studying for a period in Moscow. She lectured throughout Connecticut on politics and her experiences abroad. She also helped with her family's floral business A.N. Pierson Corp until her death due to pneumonia at age 89.
[Submitted By: K012/GIB]
[Submitted By: K012/GIB]
