Elizabeth Piper Ensley

Elizabeth Piper Ensley (January 19, 1847 – February 23, 1919), was an educator and an African-American suffragist.[1] Born in Massachusetts, Ensley was a teacher on the eastern coast of the country. She moved to Colorado where she achieved prominence as a leader in the Colorado suffrage movement. She was also a journalist, activist, and a leader and founder of local women's clubs.

Elizabeth Piper Ensley
Born
Elizabeth Piper

(1847-01-19)January 19, 1847
New Bedford, Massachusetts, US
DiedFebruary 23, 1919(1919-02-23) (aged 72)
Denver, Colorado, US
NationalityAmerican
Known forWomen's suffrage
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1882)​

Early life and education

Although some sources claim that Ensley was born in 1848 in the Caribbean, census and marriage records, as well as her grave, place her birth at New Bedford, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1847.[2][3][4] Her father, Phillip F. Piper, was born in Virginia and her mother, Jane Gibson, was born in Georgia.[2][5][lower-alpha 1] Her father worked on the ship Rebecca Simms.[7][lower-alpha 2] In 1868, she graduated from the West Newton English and Classical School, also known as the Allen School.[8] From 1869 to December 1870, she traveled to England and Europe.[8][9][lower-alpha 3]

Marriage and children
Newell Houston Ensley (1852-1888)

She married her husband Newell Houston Ensley on September 4, 1882, in Boston. Newell, born in Nashville, Tennessee[3] on August 23, 1852, was the son of Clara and George Ensley.[11] Born into slavery, he was owned by his maternal grandfather who hired a teacher to teach him to read and write.[12][lower-alpha 4] After the Civil War, Newell worked and attended a school near her home and became the teacher and a Sunday school teacher. He desired to become a preacher.[12][lower-alpha 5] He graduated third in his class from Roger Williams University in Nashville in June 1878, and then attended Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, where he was the only black man in his graduating class (ca. 1881). He first taught Latin and theology at a school in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a professor of rhetoric, Hebrew, and science at Howard University and Alcorn State University.[11][12] Among his favored topics were "Toussaint L'Ouverture," "Pluck versus Luck," "The Rights of Women," "Temperance" and "The Rights of the Negro."[12] They had three children: Roger (born 1883), Charlotte (born 1885),[13] and Jean (March 1888 – June 1888).

They lived in Washington in 1880s,[14] and then Mississippi, before moving to Denver, Colorado in 1887[9] or 1888.[8][15][lower-alpha 6] The African-American community was only about 2% of Denver's total population.[9] Newell died in Denver, Colorado, on May 23, 1888.[16] Ensley lived at 855 S. Emerson, in a craftsman house.[9] She also lived at 1722 Logan, Denver, Colorado in 1900, when her mother and her two surviving children (of three) lived with her.[13]

Career

Upon returning from Europe on December 22, 1870,[9] she established a circulating library in Boston[1][10] and became a public school teacher,[10] working in Trenton, New Jersey.[8] From 1882 to 1883, Elizabeth was a member of the faculty of Howard University.[8][14] She taught at Alcorn State University in Mississippi before moving to Denver.[15][1] Ensley was the Denver correspondent for The Woman's Era, the national publication of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) by 1894,[17] when she reported on the first election in which women could vote.[18] It was the first monthly newspaper published by and for African-American woman.[9]

Activism

Relief efforts

Due to the Silver Panic of 1893, miners who had lost their jobs were in Denver with their families.[9] In Colorado, Elizabeth joined Denver's relief efforts for the poor and the homeless,[1] contacting people that she knew in Washington, D.C., and Boston to help fund relief efforts.[9]

Suffrage and politics

Women had the right to vote in school board elections, but not in other elections, in accordance with the state constitution of 1876.[9] Inspired by her experiences with the women's suffrage groups in Boston, Elizabeth joined the campaign to put a women's suffrage amendment on the November 1893 ballot in Colorado,[1] so that women could vote in all elections.[9] She was the treasurer of the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association, and beginning with a fund of 25 dollars, helped gain the money necessary for the campaign.[1] Ensley worked to persuade African-American men to vote in favor of voting rights for women.[19] The suffrage amendment was approved in November 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant voting rights to women.[1]

Alongside Ida Clark DePriest,[20] she organized the Colorado Colored Women's Republican Club to teach African-American women to be educated voters.[1] While she identified most with the Republican Party, she wrote that "there should be thorough and systematic organization of the women of all parties."[20][21]

She established the Women's League in 1894 to inform black women how to vote, communicate the importance of voting, and communicate the nature of the issues.[9][17] She was also very involved in ensuring equality for all and civil rights.[9]

Women's clubs

She founded the Colorado Association of Colored Women's Clubs (CACW) in 1904,[17] which created a stronger alliance by joining eight organizations throughout Colorado.[22] The CACW led community and educational programs, including the George Washington Carver Day Nursery.[1] Ensley served as the second Vice President of the Colorado State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She delivered an address to the Federation in 1906 titled "Women and the Ballot."[23] Ensley was the only African-American member of the predominantly white board of the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs.[1]

Death and legacy

She died on February 23, 1919, in Denver,[lower-alpha 7] at the home of her daughter, Charlotte Ensley Britton.[8] She is buried in the Ensley family plot at Riverside Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.[9][14]

In 2020, Ensley was posthumously named an honoree of the National Women's History Alliance and inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.[24][25]

Notes
  1. Philip, born about 1820, was the son of William and Amelia Piper.[5] William Piper, a former slave in Alexandria, Virginia, was a domestic servant for William Rotch Rodman, who earned his income from the banking and whaling industries. Piper, known for his skill in caring for horses, lived at 54 Bedford Street, two blocks from Rodman's residence at 58 Bedford Street, in what is now a historical area in New Bedford. Former slaves often became part of the middle class in New Bedford. Piper's wife, Amelia, was also a former slave.[6]
  2. In 1839, he was a captain of Rebecca Simms (sailed out of New Bedford - general trading service; refitted as a whaler before 1850) and lived at 87 S. Sixth Street, New Bedford, Massachusetts.[7]
  3. It is said that during the early 1870s, Ensley studied abroad in Germany and Switzerland,[1][10] but she is said to have returned to the United States in December 1870.[9]
  4. Both of his parents were literate. He was a buggy boy, servant, and rent collector to his grandfather. After the Civil War, he was a paid worker for his grandfather, until his death. His mother was established in a cabin on 30 acres in 1866.[12]
  5. He toured the north with Dr. Phillips, representing the Home Mission schools.[12]
  6. Jameson states that she came to Denver in the early 1890s.[15]
  7. The Friends of the Riverside Cemetery stated that she died on June 6, 1919,[9] but The New York Age had reported in March of that year that she died on February 23.[8]

References
  1. "WOW Museum: Western Women's Suffrage - Colorado". Theautry.org. Archived from the original on August 12, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  2. 1910 United States Federal Census, Denver Ward 9. Denver, Colorado: United States. 1910. pp. T624_116, 6A, Enumeration District: 0110, FHL microfilm: 1374129.
  3. Massachusetts, Marriage Records, 1840–1915.
  4. "Elizabeth Piper, daughter of Philip and Jane Gibson Piper", New England Historic Genealogical Society; Boston, Massachusetts; Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts to the Year 1850
  5. "Philip F Piper and Jane Gibson, June 26, 1846, New Bedford, Massachusetts", Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook)
  6. Marean, Pamela (December 15, 2012). "Behind the mansions: Researchers explore 'microcosm of historic New Bedford'". Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  7. "Philip F. Piper", New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1839, p. 110
  8. "Obituary for Elizabeth Piper Ensley (Aged 62)". The New York Age. March 15, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  9. Hennesy, DL. K. Alexander (ed.). "Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery » Riverside Biographies". Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  10. "Elizabeth Piper Ensley". The Crisis. 20: 38. May 1920.
  11. "Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising - Newell Ensley". Tennessee State Library and Archives. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  12. Simmons, Rev. William J. (1887). Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. G. M. Rewell & co. p. 361.
  13. "Elizabeth P. Ensley, 1722 Logan Street, Denver - year of birth 1847", 1900 United States Federal Census Year: 1900; Census Place: Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Roll: 119; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 0069; FHL microfilm: 1240119
  14. "Denver cemetery's data "very valuable" to state". The Denver Post. December 23, 2005. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  15. Jameson, Elizabeth, ed. (1997). Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the Women's West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 374. ISBN 0806129298.
  16. The Newton Theological Institution: General Catalogue. Andover Newton Theological School. 1912. p. 160.
  17. "Women of the West Museum: The LoDo Mural Project". His.com. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  18. Lerner, Gerda; Lerner, Robinson-Edwards Professor of History and Senior Distinguished Research Professor Gerda (1992). Black Women in White America: A Documentary History. Vintage Books. pp. 337. ISBN 978-0-679-74314-9.
  19. Rounsville, Sarah. "Elizabeth P. Ensley: Suffragette and African American Women's Club Leader". Intermountain Histories. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  20. Higginbotham, Elizabeth; Romero, Mary, eds. (1997). Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class. Vol. 6: Women and Work. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. p. 220. ISBN 9780803950597.
  21. "Emory Women Writers Resource Project : The Woman's Era, Volume 1 : club notes 0". womenwriters.digitalscholarship.emory.edu. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  22. "Elizabeth Piper Ensley: Activist". Colorado Virtual Library. July 13, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  23. Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn (1998). African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920. Indiana University Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-253-33378-4.
  24. "2020 Honorees". National Women's History Alliance. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  25. "Colorado Women's Hall of Fame Announces 2020 Class of Inductees". 5280. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
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