Mary Johnston was an American novelist and women's rights advocate from Virginia.
20 Facts About Mary Johnston
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Mary Johnston was one of America's best selling authors during her writing career and had three silent films adapted from her novels.
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Mary Johnston was born in the small town of Buchanan, Virginia, the eldest child of John William Johnston, an American Civil War veteran, and Elizabeth Dixon Alexander Johnston.
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Mary Johnston grew up with a love of books and was financially independent enough to devote herself to writing.
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When Mary Johnston was 16, her father's work with the Georgia Pacific Railroad caused the family to move to Birmingham, Alabama.
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Shortly after the move, Mary Johnston began attending the Atlanta Female Institute and College of Music in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Mary Johnston attended the school for three months; this was the only formal education Johnston would receive.
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Mary Johnston wrote historical books and novels that often combined romance with history.
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Mary Johnston's best-selling 1911 novel on the American Civil War, The Long Roll, brought Johnston into open conflict with Stonewall Jackson's widow, Mary Anna Jackson.
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Beyond her native America, Mary Johnston's novels were very popular in Canada and in England.
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Mary Johnston's book titled Hagar, considered to be one of the first feminist novels as well as somewhat autobiographical, captures the early days of women's rights.
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Mary Johnston's deep focus on female suffrage in the United States is documented by her letters and correspondence with women working for the right to vote.
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Mary Johnston was an early an active member of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, which was founded in November 1909 by other Richmond-area activists like Lila Meade Valentine, Ellen Glasgow, and Kate Waller Barrett.
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Mary Johnston chaired the ESL's legislative and lecture committees and served as vice president from 1911 to 1914.
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In 1910, Mary Johnston took elocution lessons to improve her public speaking skills.
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Mary Johnston would go on to deliver several speeches in support of women's suffrage.
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Mary Johnston spoke at the closing event of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, DC.
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In 1936, Mary Johnston died of Bright's disease at her home in Warm Springs, Virginia.
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Mary Johnston was honored by the Library of Virginia as part of its 2005 class of Virginia Women in History.
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Mary Johnston's name is featured on the Wall of Honor on the Virginia Women's Monument, located in Capitol Square in Richmond.