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BSU > English 3160 > Women Writers > Goldman, Emma

Emma Goldman

27 Jun 1869 - 14 May 1940

Emma Goldman

Photo courtesy of the Statue of Liberty National Monument,
National Park Service, United States Department of Interior
Emma Goldman immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1885. She was born in Kovno, Lithuania on June 27,1869. She married Jacob Kershner, 1887 (divorced) and then married James Colton (Welsh coal miner) to obtain citizenship in mid 1920’s. She studied nursing and midwifery late 1890’s in Vienna, Austria. Emma Goldman died in Toronto, Canada on May 14, 1940.

List of Works:

* Anarchism and Other Essays, Dover Publications (New York), 1969

* The Social Significance of Modern Drama, Applause Theatre Book Publishers (New York), 1987

* My Disillusionment in Russia (memoirs), Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1923

* My Further Disillusionment in Russia (memoirs), Crowell (New York), 1970

* Living My Life (autobiography), Knopf (New York), 1931

* The Traffic in Women and Other Essays on Feminism, Times Change Press (New York), 1971

* Red Emma Speaks: Selected Writings and Speeches, Vintage Books (New York), 1972

* The Psychology of Political Violence, Gordon Press (New York), 1974

* Nowhere at Home: Letters from Exile of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman (letters), Schocken Books, (New York), 1975

* Women Without a Country, Cienfuegos Press (Sanday, Scotland), 1979

* Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution, Commonground Press (New York), 1983

Goldman was one of the most controversial and influential women in contemporary American history. Through her writing and political activism, Goldman was an outspoken advocate for unionization of workers and the eight hour workday. She advocated equality and independence for women, birth control and fought for the ideal of freedom of speech. Many of the ideas she advocated are now a fundamental part of our social policies today. In her time, Goldman was considered by many people in power to be “the most dangerous woman in America.” In 1893, she was sent to jail for one year after urging unemployed workers in a speech to consider violence to survive, if they were faced starvation. Goldman was imprisoned again in 1917. She served a two-year prison term for trying to obstruct the draft during the mobilization efforts for World War I. When she was released from prison in 1919, she was deported to Russia. Goldman never gave up her anarchist principles. She remained active in the political and social movements throughout her life, from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia to the Spanish Civil War.

Historical:

* Founder and editor of Mother Earth magazine in New York City 1906

* Raised money for the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War, 1930’s

Additional Sites:
Anarchist Archives
Berkeley University
Women's History
Emma Goldman at Zpubs

Copyright@ Last modified: January 2003
F. Benedix