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Katharine McCormick
Katharine Dexter McCormick (August 27, 1875 – December 28, 1967) was an American suffragist, philanthropist and, after her husband's death, heir to a substantial part of the McCormick family fortune. She funded most of the research necessary to develop the first birth control pill.
Katharine Dexter was born on August 27, 1875, in Dexter, Michigan, in her grandparents' mansion, Gordon Hall. Her grandfather, the judge Samuel W. Dexter, son of politician Samuel Dexter, had settled and founded the town in 1824. She grew up in Chicago where her father, Wirt Dexter, was a prominent lawyer and philanthropic leader. Following the early death of her father of a heart attack at age 57 when she was 14 years old, she and her mother Josephine moved to Boston in 1890. Four years later, her brother Samuel died of meningitis at age 25.
Dexter passed entrance exams to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1896, but was required to take three years of prerequisite classes to enroll. Arriving in 1899, Katharine graduated in 1904, earning a BSc in biology.
She planned to attend medical school, but instead married Stanley Robert McCormick, the youngest son of Cyrus McCormick and heir to the International Harvester fortune, on September 15, 1904. In September 1905, they moved into a house in Brookline, Massachusetts. The couple did not have any children.
Stanley graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1895 where he had also been a gifted athlete on the varsity tennis team. He had been showing signs of progressively worsening mental illness. In September 1906, he was hospitalized for over a year at McLean Hospital and was originally diagnosed with dementia praecox, an early label for what is now today known as schizophrenia. Katharine then lived with her mother in Boston, where the two became suffragists. Josephine had been supportive of Katharine's pursuit of higher education and marched in Boston's first suffrage parade.
In June 1908, Stanley was moved to the McCormicks' Riven Rock estate in Montecito, California, where his schizophrenic older sister, Mary Virginia, had lived from 1898 to 1904 before being placed in a Huntsville, Alabama, sanitarium. While there, he was examined by the prominent German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin and diagnosed with the catatonic form of dementia praecox. In 1909, Stanley was declared legally incompetent and his guardianship divided between Katharine and the McCormick family.
Katharine's plea for gender equality was apparent from early on. As an undergraduate at MIT, she confronted administration officials. MIT required that women wear hats at all times, including while at work. Katharine initially complied, then later refused. She argued that it was a fire hazard for feathered hats to be worn in laboratories. As a result, MIT's administration changed their policies.
McCormick argued that suffrage was necessary for guaranteeing women's political freedom, and that women deserved political equality because their abilities were equal to men's. She felt that the suffrage movement itself provided a valuable opportunity for service from women. These views of women's right to political equality were aligned with other wealthy suffragists of the time.
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Katharine McCormick
Katharine Dexter McCormick (August 27, 1875 – December 28, 1967) was an American suffragist, philanthropist and, after her husband's death, heir to a substantial part of the McCormick family fortune. She funded most of the research necessary to develop the first birth control pill.
Katharine Dexter was born on August 27, 1875, in Dexter, Michigan, in her grandparents' mansion, Gordon Hall. Her grandfather, the judge Samuel W. Dexter, son of politician Samuel Dexter, had settled and founded the town in 1824. She grew up in Chicago where her father, Wirt Dexter, was a prominent lawyer and philanthropic leader. Following the early death of her father of a heart attack at age 57 when she was 14 years old, she and her mother Josephine moved to Boston in 1890. Four years later, her brother Samuel died of meningitis at age 25.
Dexter passed entrance exams to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1896, but was required to take three years of prerequisite classes to enroll. Arriving in 1899, Katharine graduated in 1904, earning a BSc in biology.
She planned to attend medical school, but instead married Stanley Robert McCormick, the youngest son of Cyrus McCormick and heir to the International Harvester fortune, on September 15, 1904. In September 1905, they moved into a house in Brookline, Massachusetts. The couple did not have any children.
Stanley graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1895 where he had also been a gifted athlete on the varsity tennis team. He had been showing signs of progressively worsening mental illness. In September 1906, he was hospitalized for over a year at McLean Hospital and was originally diagnosed with dementia praecox, an early label for what is now today known as schizophrenia. Katharine then lived with her mother in Boston, where the two became suffragists. Josephine had been supportive of Katharine's pursuit of higher education and marched in Boston's first suffrage parade.
In June 1908, Stanley was moved to the McCormicks' Riven Rock estate in Montecito, California, where his schizophrenic older sister, Mary Virginia, had lived from 1898 to 1904 before being placed in a Huntsville, Alabama, sanitarium. While there, he was examined by the prominent German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin and diagnosed with the catatonic form of dementia praecox. In 1909, Stanley was declared legally incompetent and his guardianship divided between Katharine and the McCormick family.
Katharine's plea for gender equality was apparent from early on. As an undergraduate at MIT, she confronted administration officials. MIT required that women wear hats at all times, including while at work. Katharine initially complied, then later refused. She argued that it was a fire hazard for feathered hats to be worn in laboratories. As a result, MIT's administration changed their policies.
McCormick argued that suffrage was necessary for guaranteeing women's political freedom, and that women deserved political equality because their abilities were equal to men's. She felt that the suffrage movement itself provided a valuable opportunity for service from women. These views of women's right to political equality were aligned with other wealthy suffragists of the time.