Mathilde Franziska Anneke

Mathilde Franziska Anneke (née Giesler; April 3, 1817 – November 25, 1884) was a German writer, feminist, and radical democrat who participated in the Revolutions of 1848–1849. In late 1849, she moved to the United States, where she campaigned to end slavery, agitated to enfranchise women, and ran a girls' school.

Biography

Early life, 1817–1841

On April 3, 1817, Mathilde Franziska Giesler was born to a wealthy family in Hiddinghausen (today Sprockhövel) in the Prussian province of Westphalia. Her parents were Karl Giesler (or Gieseler), a prosperous mine owner, and Elisabeth (Hülswitt) Giesler. She was the eldest of twelve children. She was educated in languages, literature, history, and classical studies and mixed with the educated, left-leaning Germans in her parents' circle. Alfred von Tabouillot, a wealthy wine merchant, agreed to pay off Giesler's father's debts in return for her hand in marriage. From that time on she distanced herself from organized religion.

Both Annekes organized and published in support of the democratic uprisings in Cologne in 1848. Mathilde continued writing and editing a newspaper after Prussian authorities briefly jailed Fritz for his dissent. In May 1849, shortly after having her first son (Fritz), Mathilde joined her husband in armed support of revolutionary forces in the southern state of Baden. Mathilde assisted Fritz on the battlefield, conveying messages on horseback. Eventually on July 23, 1849, Prussia and Baden defeated the revolutionary forces at Rastatt, Baden. This chapter of Anneke's life saw her publish beginning in 1852 the Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung (German Women's Newspaper), which was the first woman-owned feminist periodical in the United States. The new venture faced resistance from male printers who boycotted the periodical, and while Anneke continued publication in New Jersey in 1852, the Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung failed after a few years. Continuing her work for social justice after settling in Milwaukee, Anneke made a lasting mark on women's history through her activism and advocacy for women's rights.

Anneke's time in New Jersey was fraught with tragedy as she lost four children, including her oldest son Fritz and three younger children. Johanna ("Fanny") left home, while Anneke, her husband, her son Percy, and her daughter Hertha returned to Milwaukee in 1858.

Soon after returning to Milwaukee, Anneke met the Anglo-American abolitionist Mary Booth, and the two developed a close relationship. There is some disagreement among scholars over how to characterize the relationship. Joey Horsley describes it as a lesbian one, while Mischa Honeck describes it as a friendship exhibiting the emotional intensity common between female friends in the mid-nineteenth century.

Anneke had participated in women's suffrage events back in the 1850s and became more focused on the cause after the war. She corresponded with leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Miller. She was elected as a vice-president (representing Wisconsin) at the inaugural meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, joining women who protested that the Fifteenth Amendment had not prohibited discrimination in voting law on the basis of sex as well as race. Woman suffrage was unpopular among men in the US, especially immigrant men, who associated it with temperance and Yankee Protestantism. Anneke found herself mediating between the organized suffrage movement and the immigrant community within which she felt comfortable. In the 1870s, Anneke was active in social justice moments in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was even affiliated with the Milwaukee Turners, although, the national organization did not grant women full membership until 1904. In 1876, she founded a women-only chapter of the International Workingmen's Association. Although she occasionally gave speeches in English, she preferred to use German throughout her life.

Mathilde Anneke died on November 23, 1884, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was buried in Milwaukee's Forest Home Cemetery.