Kate Austin

This article is about the anarchist writer Kate Austin. For the similarly named character from the television show Lost, see Kate Austen.
Kate Austin (1864–1902)

Kate Cooper Austin (1864–1902)[1] was an American journalist and advocate of feminist and anarchist causes.

Early life

Born Catherine Cooper, Kate Cooper Austin was born on July 25, 1864 in La Salle country, Illinois[1] Austin's family moved to Hook's Point, Iowa when she was six.[2][3]

Career

It was in Hook's Point, Iowa that she married a young farmer, Sam Austin, in August 1883.[2] Around the same time, her father discovered Lucifer, an anarchist/free love journal published by Moses Harman.[1][4] Austin and her entire family were influenced by Hamon's writings, but it was the Haymarket Riot of 1886 and the ensuing reaction which brought Austin to anarchism.[5][6]

"Her devotion to liberty made her an anarchist; her hostility to patriarchy made her a feminist. She was too much the former to join the organized women’s movements of her day, and too much the latter to ally with mainline political anarchists—most of them men—whose devotion to liberty often stopped short of women’s liberation."

— Miller, Howard S. Kate Austin: A Feminist-Anarchist on the Farmer's Last Frontier[7]

A member of the American Press Writers' Association, Austin wrote for many working-class and radical newspapers.[6] She also contributed to Lucifer and to anarchist periodicals such as The Firebrand, Free Society, Discontent, and The Demonstrator. Austin's interests included sexual reform and the economic status of working people.[6] In 1897 and 1899, Emma Goldman visited Austin at her home in Caplinger Mills, Missouri, where she gave several well-attended lectures.[5][8]

Personal life

Austin died on October 28, 1902 of consumption[5] leaving behind 9 children aged between 19 and 10.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nold, Carl (June–July 1934). "Kate Austin". Man!. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "AUSTIN, Kate, American journalist.- An Anarchist Witness of the Haymarket Drama". Research on Anarchism. Retrieved 25 March 2006.
  3. ↑ http://raforum.apinc.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=2&lang=en
  4. ↑ Presley, Sharon. "Feminism in Liberty". Feminista! The Journal of Feminist Construction. Retrieved 2006-03-25.
  5. 1 2 3 Falk, Candace (2008). Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years Made for America, 1890-1901. University of Illinois Press. p. 517. ISBN 9780252075414.
  6. 1 2 3 "Kate Austin". The Lucy Parsons Project. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ Miller, Howard S. (April 1996). "Kate Austin: A Feminist-Anarchist on the Farmer's Last Frontier". Nature, Society and Thought. 9 (2): 189–209.
  8. ↑ Avrich, Paul; Avrich, Karen (2012). Sasha and Emma. Harvard University Press. p. 146. ISBN 9780674067677.

External links

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Kate Austin


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