Emma Steghagen

Emma Steghagen (March 5, 1856 – October 31, 1948) was an American labor organizer and suffragist, based in Chicago. She was secretary and treasurer of the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) of Chicago, organized the Wage Earners Suffrage League in Chicago, and served on the American Committee on Conditions in Ireland.

Emma Steghagen
A middle-aged white woman with dark hair in a simple updo, wearing a high-collared bodice with lace trim
Emma Steghagen, from a 1908 publication
BornMarch 5, 1856
Oskaloosa, Iowa, U.S.
DiedOctober 31, 1948
Van Buren County, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation(s)Labor organizer, suffragist, activist

Early life

Emma Steghagen was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the daughter of German immigrants Frederick Steghagen and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Gleichman Steghagen. Her father was a cabinet maker.[1]

Career

Steghagen worked in a Chicago shoe factory as a young woman. She organized the first union in the American boot trade, and served on the national executive board of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union.[2][3][4] She was secretary and treasurer of the National Women's Trade Union League,[5][6][7] on the same board as Agnes Nestor, Mary McDowell, and Margaret Dreier Robins.[8] She was a frequent speaker before union locals and other community groups.[9][10]

Steghagen was involved in suffrage work through the WTUL,[11] and helped to organize the Wage Earners' Suffrage League in Chicago.[12] In 1920, she joined the American Committee on Conditions in Ireland.[13] In 1921 she was an American delegate the International Federation of Working Women in Geneva.[14] In 1928, she worked on the presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover.[15]

Personal life

Steghagen lived with her brother Fred and her sisters Alwina and Matilda in Chicago; later she lived on a farm in Michigan. She died in 1948, aged 92 years, at a hospital in Van Buren County, Michigan.[16] Her gravesite is in Bangor, Michigan.[1]

References
  1. "Obituary for Emma Steghagen". The Herald-Palladium. 1948-11-01. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Bootmakers Elect Officers". The Pittsburgh Press. 1899-06-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Two of the Most Widely Known Women in Trades Union Circles in the City of Chicago". The Inter Ocean. 1904-01-03. p. 26. Retrieved 2022-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Carpenter, Frank G. (1904-05-15). "Women as Workers in the Unions". Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Miss Emma Steghagen". The Brainerd Daily Dispatch. 1919-11-18. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Union Labor Advocate (May 1908): 31.
  7. Butler, Amy E. (2012-02-01). Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith in the ERA Debate, 1921-1929. State University of New York Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7914-8887-4.
  8. "Agnes Nestor Re-Elected to Head Trades Union League". The Day Book. 1915-01-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Union Meetings Addressed". Union Labor Advocate. 9 (4): 53. December 1908.
  10. "Women's Trade Union; Miss Emma Steghagen Tells Miners Purpose of the Organization". The Indianapolis News. 1918-01-25. p. 11. Retrieved 2022-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Women to Study Primer Politics". Chicago Tribune. 1908-08-10. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Flanagan, Maureen A. "Suffrage". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  13. McCoole, Sinéad (May 25, 2021). "Women activists and US funds: The formation of the Irish White Cross". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  14. "Women Workers Indorse Parley". Evening Star. 1921-11-29. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Shoe Worker Aids Hoover; Miss Emma Steghagen Was Organizer of First Union in Boot Trade". The New York Times. 1928-09-24. p. 4. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  16. "Steghagen, Emma (1856-1948)". Jane Addams Digital Edition. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
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