Biography
Margaret Sanger was born in Corning, New York with ten siblings and a mother who passed away prematurely. Margaret attended Claverack College and Hudson River Institute and then became a nurse probationer at White Plains Hospital in 1900. She married to William Sanger in 1902 become a full-time wife and mother of three children. In 1912, Margaret gave up nursing to devote her time to her feminist work. Margaret ended up divorcing her husband and remarrying to J. Noah H. Slee in 1922.
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Contributions:
In 1912, Margaret Sanger published a series of articles called “What Every Girl Should Know” for the New York Call. This was a column was about female sexuality and social hygiene that was shut down by postal authorities because it was too obscene. Because Margaret was a nurse and was frequently dealt with childbirth, miscarriages, and self-induced abortions, she realized how poor women were at a greater disadvantage to middle-class women when it came to unwanted pregnancies. Because of this, Margaret decided to launch her own magazine called Woman Rebel in 1914 that included the term “birth control” that she coined for the time. She also created a sixteen-page pamphlet called Family Limitations that talked about contraceptive methods for American women. Postal authorities shut down her works many times but Margaret continued her publications, resulting in her being indicted and her exiling to England. In 1916, Margaret returned to New York City, the charges were dropped, and she opened in Brooklyn the first birth-control clinic in the United States. Nine days later, she was arrested and served thirty days in prison along with her coworkers. In 1917, her periodical the Birth Control Review was published which promoted birth control. In 1921, Margaret founded and was president of the American Birth Control League that became the Planned Parenthood Federation of American in 1942. In 1923, she opened the British Control Clinical Research Bureau, organized the first World Population Conference in Geneva in 1927, and formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control in 1929. This committee granted legal rights for contraceptives based on Margaret’s lobbying efforts. Finally in 1937, the American Medical Association endorsed and allowed birth control devices in the United States. Margaret served as the first president of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation from 1952 to 1957.
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Works/Appearance:
1912- What Every Girl Should Know: A column about female sexuality and social hygiene
1914- Woman Rebel: A magazine about women’s rights to birth control
1914- Family Limitations: A sixteen-page pamphlet about contraceptive methods
1917- Birth Control Review: promotion of birth control
1921- The Morality of Birth Control: Speech about the moral disagreements about birth control
1925- The Children’s Era: Speech about the result of overpopulation because of the lack of birth control
1937- Woman and The Future: Speech about how birth control will change the future for women
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Sources:
Biography.com Editors. “Margaret Sanger.” The Biography. A&E Television Networks, 27 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 Sept. 2017.
Katz, Esther. “Sanger, Margaret.” American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press, Feb. 2000. Web. 25 Sept. 2017.
Knowles, Jon. “Margaret Sanger- 20th Century Hero.” Planned Parenthood. Katharine Dexter McCormick Library, Aug. 2009. Web. 25 Sept. 2017.
“Margaret Sanger- Our Founder.” Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Jun. 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2017.
“Margaret Sanger Quotes, History, and Biography- Research, Statistics, and Abortion History.” Live Action. Web. 25 Sept. 2017.
Sanger, Margaret. “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” The Public Papers of Margaret Sanger: Web Edition, New York University, Oct. 1921.