Frances Kellor - LGBT Heroine

Frances Alice Kellor (1873 - 1952) was a lesbian transgender person we should celebrate. Go to franceskellor.com to learn more.

Raised in poverty by a single mother, Kellor wrote a seminal book on women's basketball, revolutionized how we view criminals via her study of African-American women in southern penitentiaries, went undercover to stop the exploitation of domestic workers, founded the National Urban League, ran much of Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 Presidential campaign and that of Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, got suffrage included as a national platform issue, developed media and labor theory, and launched the field of International Arbitration. And these actions are not what her notoriety comes from.

Kellor is most widely known as the head of the Americanization movement. This movement greeted immigrants from 1906 to 1921. The historical literature paints this movement as one of coercion and oppression that sought to push immigrants into cultural conformity. But her movement sought to liberate immigrants by turning them into progressive activists. If one only considers the basics, a transgender lesbian feminist civil rights activist would not likely lead a movement to enforce conformity.

Spreading the word about this amazing transgender lesbian role model is my mission. Read her biography, Founding Mother: Frances Kellor and the Quest for Progressive Democracy. Help this happen by telling educators about the resources at www.franceskellor.com.

Frances Alice Kellor needs a featured spot in our US History books.