Bloomer, Amelia Jenks

Bloomer, Amelia Jenks

▪ American social reformer
née  Amelia Jenks 
born May 27, 1818, Homer, N.Y., U.S.
died Dec. 30, 1894, Council Bluffs, Iowa
 American reformer who campaigned for temperance (temperance movement) and women's rights (women's movement).

      Amelia Jenks was educated in a local school and for several years thereafter taught school and was a private tutor. In 1840 she married Dexter C. Bloomer, a Quaker newspaper editor of Seneca county, through whom she became interested in public affairs. She began contributing articles to newspapers on various topics and was an early and staunch member of the local women's Temperance Society. Bloomer attended but took no part in the Seneca Falls Convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Stanton, Elizabeth Cady) and Lucretia Mott (Mott, Lucretia) in 1848. In January of the following year, however, she began a newspaper for women—probably the first to be edited entirely by a woman—The Lily: A Ladies Journal Devoted to Temperance and Literature and opened its pages to women's rights advocates as well as temperance reformers.

 Although she was rather slow to embrace the cause of women's rights, Bloomer by 1853 had become quite active, making speaking appearances in New York City and elsewhere. She became involved in a dress-reform movement as well when she began appearing in public wearing full-cut pantaloons, or “Turkish trousers,” under a short skirt. She attracted considerable ridicule for appearing in the costume, and the pantaloons came to be called “bloomers.” (bloomers) Although she had not originated the costume—among others, actress Fanny Kemble and reformer Lydia Sayer (Hasbrouck) had worn it as early as 1849, and Elizabeth Smith Miller had actually introduced it to Bloomer and Stanton early in 1851—Bloomer's defense of it in The Lily linked her name with it indissolubly. The episode had the unfortunate effect of distracting attention from her reform efforts, but she continued to publish The Lily in Seneca Falls, where she was also deputy postmistress, and later in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where she assisted her husband on the Western Home Visitor. In 1855 she sold the newspaper, but her interest in reform, expressed in writing and lectures, continued until her death some 40 years later.
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Bloomer,Amelia Jenks — Bloom·er (blo͞oʹmər), Amelia Jenks. 1818 1894. American social reformer who founded and edited the feminist newspaper Lily (1849 1855), wrote about unjust marriage laws and women s suffrage, and advocated a new style of dress for women. * * * …   Universalium

  • Bloomer, Amelia — orig. Amelia Jenks born May 27, 1818, Homer, N.Y., U.S. died Dec. 30, 1894, Council Bluffs, Iowa U.S. reformer. In 1840 she married Dexter Bloomer, a Quaker newspaper editor. She wrote articles on education, unjust marriage laws, and women s… …   Universalium

  • Bloomer, Amelia — orig. Amelia Jenks (27 may. 1818, Homer, N.Y., EE.UU.–30 dic. 1894, Council Bluffs, Iowa). Reformadora estadounidense. En 1840 contrajo matrimonio con un cuáquero, Dexter Bloomer, que era director de un diario. Escribió artículos sobre educación …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bloomer-Kostüm — Bloomer Kostüm, 1851 Amelia Bloomer in dem nach ihr benannten Bloomer Kostüm, aus The Lily, 1851 Amelia Jenks Bloomer (* 27. Mai 1818 in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • bloomer — bloomer1 [blo͞om′ər] n. 1. a plant with reference to its blooming [an early bloomer] 2. a person in the bloom or prime of life 3. [short for blooming error] [Slang, Chiefly Brit.] Chiefly Brit. Slang a foolish or stupid mistake ☆ bloomer2… …   English World dictionary

  • Amelia Bloomer — Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 mdash;December 30, 1894) was an American women s rights and temperance advocate. She created the Loose Bloomer for women s comfort. Bloomer came from a family of modest means and received only a few years of… …   Wikipedia

  • Amelia Bloomer — Bloomer Kostüm, 1851 Amelia Bloomer in dem nach ihr benannten Bloomer Kostüm, aus The …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Amelia Bloomer — Amelia Jenks Bloomer (27 mai 1818 – 30 décembre 1894) était une militante du droit des femmes et du mouvement pour la tempérance. Employée des postes, elle édita la revue The Lily, consacrée principalement à la tempérance mais qui ouvrit… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Bloomer — [blo͞om′ər] Amelia Jenks [jeŋks] 1818 94; U.S. social reformer & feminist …   English World dictionary

  • bloomer — bloomer1 /blooh meuhr/, n. 1. a costume for women, advocated about 1850 by Amelia Jenks Bloomer, consisting of a short skirt, loose trousers gathered and buttoned at the ankle, and often a coat and a wide hat. 2. bloomers, (used with a pl. v.) a …   Universalium

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