Margaret Foley (suffragist)
| Margaret Lillian Foley | |
|---|---|
Margaret Foley (right) and another suffragist distribute the Woman's Journal, 1913.
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| Born |
March 19, 1875 Boston, U.S. |
| Died | June 14, 1957 (aged 82) Boston, U.S. |
| Other names | Maggie Foley Margaret Lilian Foley |
| Known for | Suffragist, labor organizer |
Margaret Lillian Foley (1875-1957) was an Irish-American labor organizer, suffragist, and social worker from Boston. Known for confronting anti-suffrage candidates at political rallies, she was nicknamed the "Grand Heckler".
Margaret Foley was born to Peter and Mary Foley on March 19, 1875, in the Meeting House Hill section of Dorchester. She and her sister, Celia, grew up in Roxbury and attended Girls' High School. An aspiring singer, she paid for voice lessons out of her earnings at a hat factory; her Boston Globe obituary describes her as "a singer of note". Family obligations took her to California, where she worked as a swimming and gymnastics teacher. When she returned to Boston she resumed her old job and became active in the trade union movement, eventually serving on the board of the Boston Women's Trade Union League. She also became an outspoken advocate for women's suffrage.
Foley was one of the few Irish Catholic suffragists from Boston. Tall and confident, with a powerful, classically trained voice, she was a remarkably effective public speaker. She addressed hundreds of audiences—often as an audience member herself, earning her the title of "The Grand Heckler". If women were given the vote, she argued, they could become a major force in improving working conditions in factories and fighting government corruption. Foley worked as a speaker and organizer for the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) from 1906 to 1915. She was also involved with the Margaret Brent Suffrage Guild, a Massachusetts Catholic group, and the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG).
Inspired by English suffragists such as the Pankhursts, Massachusetts suffragists began making open-air speaking tours in 1909. Most of the speakers were middle- or upper-class women who were ill at ease addressing crowds of mill workers at lunchtime. As a working-class Irish Catholic with a colorful personality, Foley stood out. She often braved male-dominated crowds in settings such as the Boston Stock Exchange and the Chamber of Commerce, speaking and handing out leaflets. To avoid being arrested for speaking on a public street without a permit, she once addressed a Boston crowd from the roof of a one-story building:
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