Alice Morgan Wright: Suffragist, Sculptor
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WHEN I BEGAN researching my book Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, people warned me that I wouldn’t find much, and they weren’t entirely wrong. These women who had fought so publicly for the right to vote tended to live very private lives. Publicly, they dedicated themselves to reform, giving speeches and writing letters and articles to promote social change. Privately, many suffragists had passionate queer love affairs, creating their own chosen families to support each other.

            Alice Morgan Wright was one of these suffragists. She grew up in Albany, New York, and went on to become a sculptor, an advocate for women’s rights, and a leader of the animal rights movement. Biographers frequently noted that Edith J. Goode was her closest friend and constant companion. In searching for more about their relationship, I scoured Wright’s extensive collection of materials. On the surface, there wasn’t much. There were no letters between them. There was no hard evidence to indicate little more than a friendship. This only made me more curious. Wright’s collection included a large cache of letters that she had written to family and friends. If Goode were such a close friend, why was there no correspondence between them?

Wendy L. Rouse is a historian and the author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement (NYU Press, 2022).