43 Facts About Marie Equi

Marie Equi was an early American medical doctor in the American West devoted to providing care to working-class and poor patients.

Marie Equi regularly provided birth control information and abortions at a time when both were illegal.

Marie Equi became a political activist and advocated civic and economic reforms, including women's right to vote and an eight-hour workday.

Marie Equi was a lesbian in a relationship with Harriet Frances Speckart for more than a decade.

In 1918, Equi was convicted under the Sedition Act for speaking against US involvement in World War I She was sentenced to a three-year term at San Quentin State Prison.

Marie Equi was the daughter of John Marie Equi, an Italian immigrant, and Sarah Mullins, an Irish immigrant.

Marie Equi was born the fifth child and fifth daughter in a large working-class family in New Bedford, the former whaling capital of the world that became a textile manufacturing powerhouse during Equi's early years.

Marie Equi attended New Bedford High School for one year before dropping out to work in a textile mill to support herself.

In 1892 Marie Equi escaped a grim future in the mills and joined her high school girlfriend, Bessie Holcomb, on an Oregon homestead along the Columbia River.

Marie Equi once remarked that as a young woman, she had spurned the interests of a young man, and she expressed little interest in a heterosexual pairing or marriage.

Marie Equi lived much of her adult life with other women but was never a separatist.

Marie Equi treated male patients in her medical practice and worked closely with men in many of her political activities.

Marie Equi undertook the longest lesbian relationship of her life in 1905 after meeting a younger woman, Harriet Speckart, the niece of Olympia Brewing Company founder Leopold Schmidt.

When birth control advocate Margaret Sanger lectured in Portland in 1916, Marie Equi became smitten with her.

Frustrated over the mistreatment of her companion, Marie Equi horsewhipped Taylor when he tried to escape from his office.

In 1897, the pair moved to San Francisco, California, where Marie Equi began studying medicine.

Marie Equi became one of the first 60 women to become a physician in Oregon.

Marie Equi established a general medicine practice in Portland in 1905, emphasizing the health concerns of women and children.

At some point between 1905 and 1915, Marie Equi began to provide abortions and did so without regard for social class or status.

Marie Equi often charged wealthy women more for the procedure to help cover the costs of poor patients.

Marie Equi was an active member of Portland's Birth Control League and helped disseminate information about birth control when such activity was illegal.

Marie Equi worked in several campaigns to secure women's right to vote in Oregon and celebrated victory in 1912 when women gained suffrage in the state.

In 1913, Marie Equi visited the site of a strike by cannery workers in east Portland at the Oregon Packing Company.

Marie Equi joined the protest and became one of its leaders, partly due to her professional stature as a physician.

Marie Equi was clubbed by an officer after she became enraged that the police had dragged away a 30-year-old pregnant woman.

Marie Equi declared herself a Radical Socialist and anarchist and aligned herself with the IWW.

Marie Equi believed the war efforts represented a grab for profits by capitalists and an imperialistic adventure for the government.

Portland entered a phase of hyper-nationalism, and Marie Equi became more of a political outsider than before.

Marie Equi continued to protest once the US entered the war in 1917.

The US government believed that Marie Equi was a dangerous threat to national security and charged and convicted her of sedition under the newly revised Espionage Act.

Marie Equi attempted appeals to the higher courts, but her arguments were rejected.

Marie Equi served her time in San Quentin State Prison in northern California, beginning her term on October 19,1920, as inmate number 34110.

Marie Equi shared the women's quarters with thirty-one other inmates, many of them serving sentences for homicide, theft, and performing abortions.

Marie Equi's health suffered while in prison with flare-ups of tuberculosis that she had contracted in childhood.

Marie Equi maintained her morale as best she could with the moral support from many visitors and letter writers.

Marie Equi sought early release through a pardon or parole, but the US Attorney General apparently blocked any leniency for her.

Marie Equi left San Quentin on August 9,1921, with a reduced sentence due to good behavior.

Between 1926 and 1936, Marie Equi invited the IWW leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn to live with her and help care for Marie Equi's daughter.

In 1930, Marie Equi suffered a heart attack, sold her medical practice, and asked Flynn to assist her for several more years.

Marie Equi became a national leader of the Communist Party USA.

Marie Equi led a quiet life following Flynn's departure and then her daughter's elopement.

Marie Equi died at Fairlawn Hospital on July 13,1952, at 80.

Marie Equi's obituaries ran in newspapers nationwide, including those in Portland, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and the New York Times.