This is Doris Fleischman, leaving on a ship for France with her adoring husband in 1925. What made this journey unusual wasn’t the destination — nor was it Fleischman’s business abroad (she was a journalist and interviewed many famous people in her career). Rather, it was that her last name didn’t match her husband’s: Fleischman was the first married woman to be issued a passport in her maiden name.
Doris was a member of the “Lucy Stone League,” who were known as the “Lucy Stoners,” feminists whose pursuit for equality initially took on the task to campaign for women’s rights to keep their birth surnames. Since US Passports had emerged in the wake of the First World War as the premier sort of personal identification, this was part of the Lucy Stoners’ focus. Fleischman worked in the wake of feminist advocate and fellow Lucy Stoner Ruth Hale, whose requests to have her own name on her passport were denied in 1917.
Apparently, a lot of the pushback against allowing women to use their birth names came from their husbands, who were embarrassed by being accompanied by women whose relationship to them might appear scandalous in the public eye.
Fleischman eventually got her way, and her passport both included her preferred name and also didn’t record her as the “wife of” her husband, which also set a new precedent.
The Lucy Stoners had their work cut out ahead of them, however. The group went through various incarnations throughout the 20th century, and it was only in the 1970s that women were able to get paychecks, driver’s licenses, passports, bank accounts, or even register to vote with their birth surnames. Crikey! Thank a Lucy Stoner for paving the way!
Doris was a member of the “Lucy Stone League,” who were known as the “Lucy Stoners,” feminists whose pursuit for equality initially took on the task to campaign for women’s rights to keep their birth surnames. Since US Passports had emerged in the wake of the First World War as the premier sort of personal identification, this was part of the Lucy Stoners’ focus. Fleischman worked in the wake of feminist advocate and fellow Lucy Stoner Ruth Hale, whose requests to have her own name on her passport were denied in 1917.
Apparently, a lot of the pushback against allowing women to use their birth names came from their husbands, who were embarrassed by being accompanied by women whose relationship to them might appear scandalous in the public eye.
Fleischman eventually got her way, and her passport both included her preferred name and also didn’t record her as the “wife of” her husband, which also set a new precedent.
The Lucy Stoners had their work cut out ahead of them, however. The group went through various incarnations throughout the 20th century, and it was only in the 1970s that women were able to get paychecks, driver’s licenses, passports, bank accounts, or even register to vote with their birth surnames. Crikey! Thank a Lucy Stoner for paving the way!
Sources: “‘Lucy Stone, if you please’: the unsung suffragist who fought for women to keep their maiden names” _Time Magazine_, Olivia B. Waxman, March 7, 2019._Atlas Obscura_, “The 1920s women who fought for the right to travel under their own names,” Sandra Knisely, March 27, 2017. _National Geographic _ “The contentious history of the passport,” Giulia Pines, May 16, 2017
