Ella Riegel (1867 - January 20, 1937) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist. Riegel was a graduate of the first class of Bryn Mawr College and would remain associated with the college the rest of her life.
Ella Riegel (1867 - January 20, 1937) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist. Riegel was a graduate of the first class of Bryn Mawr College and would remain associated with the college the rest of her life.
Regel was born in 1866 in Pennsylvania. [1] Riegel was part of the first class of Bryn Mawr College and graduated in 1889. [2] [3] She became interested in anthropology and archaeology. [1] Riegel was also good with finances and made money through investing in stocks. [1]
Riegel promoted the cause of women's suffrage in many different ways. She was first part of the Congressional Union for Woman's Suffrage, where she served on their finance committee. [1] Later, she joined the National Woman's Party (NWP). [1] In 1916, she was part of the "Suffrage Special," a group of more than twenty suffragists who traveled to the West to promote woman's suffrage. [1] [4] [5] Riegel served as the business manager for the Suffrage Special. [6] Along with Mrs. Charles Wister Ruschenberger, she sent photographs of a "women's liberty bell" to each United States Senator. [7] The bell had a chained tongue, so it could not ring. [7] In 1919, Riegel met with James P. Goodrich, Governor of Indiana, to urge him to call a special legislative session to ratify the woman's suffrage amendment. [8]
In a 75-woman protest carried out on February 9, 1919, Riegel was arrested. [9] The protest was part of a series of "watch fires" carried out by the NWP due to the failure of the Senate to pass the 19th amendment. [9] Riegel carried a suffrage banner and was one of 47 women arrested. [9] She later helped organize the Prison Special to raise awareness about the imprisonment of activists and the inhumane treatment they received in jail. [1]
After women won suffrage rights, Riegel continued to fight for expanding rights in Pennsylvania, where she served as the chair of the state NWP. [10] Riegel also fought for women's independent citizenship and full guardianship of their own children. [11] [12] Riegel was the woman's party delegate to the Hague conference for the Codification of International Law in 1930. [13] She traveled through Europe and Latin America and worked with the Women's Consultative Committee of the League of Nations. [1]
Riegel died in her apartment on Bryn Mawr campus on January 20, 1937. [3] She left $100,000 from her estate to Bryn Mawr, and an archaeology scholarship was created in her name. [14] In 1940, an archaeological museum named for Riegel was opened in the Bryn Mawr library. [15]