Dennett, Mary Ware, 1872-1947

Suffragist, pacifist, artisan, and advocate of birth control and sex education, Mary Coffin (Ware) Dennett was a founder of the National Birth Control League, director of the Voluntary Parenthood League, and editor of the Birth Control Herald. In 1915 she wrote a pamphlet for her adolescent sons entitled "The Sex Side of Life"; it was banned as obscene by the Post Office, and Dennett was tried and convicted, but the judgement was ultimately overturned amidst nationwide public protest. For further biographical information, see Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971).

Epithet: Mrs Director Voluntary Parenthood League New York

Suffragist, pacifist, artisan, and advocate of birth control and sex education, Mary Coffin (Ware) Dennett was a founder of the National Birth Control League, director of the Voluntary Parenthood League, and editor of the Birth Control Herald. In 1915 she wrote a pamphlet for her adolescent sons entitled "The Sex Side of Life"; it was banned as obscene by the Post Office, and Dennett was tried and convicted, but the judgment was ultimately overturned amidst nationwide public protest. She was the niece of Edwin Doak and Lucia (Ames) Mead, two noted Boston social reformers, and in 1900 married Hartley Dennett, a Boston architect, whom she dicorced in 1913; they had two sons. For further biographical information, see Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971).

Suffragist, pacifist, artisan, and advocate of birth control and sex education, Mary Coffin (Ware) Dennett was a founder of the National Birth Control League, director of the Voluntary Parenthood League, and editor of the Birth Control Herald. In 1915 she wrote a pamphlet for her adolescent sons entitled "The Sex Side of Life"; it was banned as obscene by the Post Office, and Dennett was tried and convicted, but the judgment was ultimately overturned amidst nationwide public protest.

An accomplished leather worker, Dennett was inspired by the "craftsman ideal" articulated by John Ruskin and William Morris, a reaction against industrial capitalism. Attracted to organizations seeking a broader distribution of wealth and power, she worked for woman suffrage, the single tax, proportional representation, and free trade. An active opponent of U.S. involvement in World War I, she managed a series of mass meetings of the American Union Against Militarism, and was a leader of the People's Council, a radical antiwar group, and the Woman's Peace Party. Government hostility towards pacifists and Dennett's experience in the "Sex Side of Life" case heightened her interest in civil liberties; she was long active on the National Committee on Freedom from Censorship and with the American Civil Liberties Union. She was the niece of Edwin Doak and Lucia (Ames) Mead, two noted Boston social reformers, and in 1900 married Hartley Dennett, a Boston architect, whom she divorced in 1913; they had two sons. For further biographical information, see Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971).

Suffragist, pacifist, artisan, and advocate of birth control and sex education, Mary Coffin (Ware) Dennett was a founder of the National Birth Control League, director of the Voluntary Parenthood League, and editor of the Birth Control Herald. In 1915 she wrote a pamphlet for her adolescent sons entitled "The Sex Side of Life"; it was banned as obscene by the Post Office, and Dennett was tried and convicted, but the judgment was ultimately overturned amidst nationwide public protest.

An accomplished leather worker, Dennett was inspired by the "craftsman ideal" articulated by John Ruskin and William Morris, a reaction against industrial capitalism. Attracted to organizations seeking a broader distribution of wealth and power, she worked for woman suffrage, the single tax, proportional representation, and free trade; she was also a member of Heterodoxy, a feminist club that met in Greenwich Village in New York City. An active opponent of U.S. involvement in World War I, she managed a series of mass meetings of the American Union Against Militarism, and was a leader of the People's Council, a radical antiwar group, and the Woman's Peace Party. Government hostility towards pacifists and Dennett's experience in the "Sex Side of Life" case heightened her interest in civil liberties; she was long active on the National Committee on Freedom from Censorship and with the American Civil Liberties Union. She was the niece of Edwin Doak and Lucia (Ames) Mead, two noted Boston social reformers, and in 1900 married Hartley Dennett, a Boston architect, whom she divorced in 1913; they had two sons, Carleton and Devon. For further biographical information, see Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971).