Elisabeth Gilman

Elisabeth Coit Gilman (December 25, 1867 – December 14, 1950) was an American socialist and civil liberties advocate.

Elisabeth Coit Gilman was born in New Haven, Connecticut on December 25, 1867 to Daniel Coit Gilman and Mary Ketcham Gilman. Elisabeth was the second child, and had an older sister named Alice. Their mother, Mary, died in 1869 and, as a result, were cared for by Daniel's sister Louise. At the age of seven, Elisabeth's father took the post as the first president of Johns Hopkins University and the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. She was cared for by a governess until her father remarried. In 1877, Daniel married Elisabeth Dwight Woolsey (1838–1910) of the New England Dwight family, with whom Elisabeth Gilman developed a close relationship.

Gilman attended Miss Hall's School until age eleven, when due to eye trouble, she was tutored by her governess at home. When her eyesight improved, Elisabeth attended the Springside School in Philadelphia at age seventeen. It was planned that she would attend Bryn Mawr College.

Instead of attending Bryn Mawr, Gilman traveled to France as a representative of the National Committee on Surgical Dressings. While in France, she also worked for the YMCA. It was at this time that she was introduced to the concepts of Socialism. When Gilman returned to the United States at the age of twenty, she entered into social work at the request of her father. Eventually, in 1921, she earned her degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Gilman officially joined the Socialist Party of America on March 1, 1929. She ran for Governor of Maryland in 1930. After running for Governor, she traveled to Russia in 1931 to study the Soviet system. She returned and ran for the United States Senate in 1934 and 1938, Mayor of Baltimore in 1935, and Sheriff of Baltimore in 1942.

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