Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (1838-1927), was the first woman to run for president of the United States. In 1872, she was the candidate of the new Equal Rights Party. Women’s voting rights groups admired her stand in favor of allowing women to vote. However, they rejected Woodhull’s candidacy because she also spoke for the right of women to have love affairs, whether married or not.
In 1870, Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin established the first stock brokerage firm owned by women, near Wall Street in New York City. That same year, the two sisters founded a weekly newspaper. Both ventures did very well for several years.
Victoria Woodhull was born on Sept. 23, 1838, in Homer, Ohio, near Utica. She received little formal education. Woodhull and her sister moved to England in 1877. Woodhull died on June 10, 1927.
