Courtesy of Library of Congress

Emma Goldman 1869-1940

Labeled "the most dangerous woman in America" and "Red Emma," Emma Goldman spent her life speaking out for political anarchism, women's rights, atheism, birth control, capitalism, and free love. Born in Lithuania, she immigrated in 1885 to New York, where she came under the spell of Alexander Berkman and his philosophy of political anarchism. Berkman became her lover, and together they founded and edited the anarchist journal Mother Earth from 1906 to 1918. Twice imprisoned for her activism, she was deported to Russia with Berkman and other anarchists during the Red Scare of 1919. After leaving Russia in 1921, she became one of the first to speak out against the repressiveness of Soviet rule. Her highly acclaimed autobiography is titled Living My Life (1931).