Mary Elizabeth Lease | The Gilded Age

Women couldn’t run for elected office in Kansas in the 1890s, but Mary Elizabeth Lease was a political force to be reckoned with.
The Gilded Age premieres Tuesday, February 6 at 9/8c on PBS. Learn more at to.pbs.org/2E1N0Tf.

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Mary Elizabeth Lease (September 11, 1850 - October 29, 1933) was an American lecturer, writer, Georgist, and political activist.
She was an advocate of the suffrage movement as well as temperance, but she was best known for her work with the People's Party (Populists).
She was born to Irish immigrants Joseph P. and Mary Elizabeth (Murray) Clyens, in Ridgway, Pennsylvania.
In 1895, she wrote The Problem of Civilization Solved, and in 1896, she moved to New York City where she edited the democratic newspaper, World.
In addition, she worked as an editor for the National Encyclopedia of American Biography.
Mary Elizabeth Lease was also known as Mary Ellen Lease, her name often misspelled during the campaign.
She was called "Queen Mary" (after the British Queen consort, Mary of Teck), "Mother Lease" by her supporters and "Mary Yellin" by her enemies.
Lease died in Callicoon, New York.