Sally Roesch Wagner

Sally Roesch Wagner (July 11, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American author, activist, biographer, educator, lecturer and historian. Wagner is known for her work in multiple activist movements, publications and programs, as well as her lectures on history and activism. Wagner is known as a biographer of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a 19th century suffragist who was credited with describing a phenomenon known today as the Matilda effect. She was a participant in several early Women's Studies programs.

Background Wagner was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota on July 11, 1942, to her father, Fred Roesch a banker and son of a German Russian immigrant, and her mother, Lorraine (Aldrich) Roesch. Wagner has described her mother as a "beautiful, creative woman who was locked into the impossibility of actualizing herself in the 1950's." In 1960, Wagner became pregnant out of high school and had no access to birth control or abortion, a fact that impacted her later activism with the Women's liberation movement. She got married immediately after that at the age of 18, and gave birth to her first child later that year. She and her husband divorced in 1965, and she raised two children on welfare while earning her degree. with a concentration in Women's Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1975.

Wagner died on June 11, 2025, at the age of 82.

Career and activism The beginning of Wagner's activism began after she saw footage of a North Vietnamese mother with her napalmed baby. From there, she joined Another Mother For Peace, an anti-war not-for-profit organization and became a strong member of the anti-war movement, becoming involved with university strikes in protest of the Vietnam War and Kent State shootings. She also advocated strongly for women's liberation and held a strong position in the movement.

Wagner began work as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Syracuse University in 1997, teaching classes on women's suffrage and other activist history.

In 2020, the documentary Without a Whisper: Konnón:kwe premiered, featuring Wagner and Mohawk Clan Mother Louise Herne. The documentary discusses how Indigenous women influenced the early suffragists.

Campaigns against The Wounded Knee Massacre Wagner became interested in Wounded Knee, specifically the Wounded Knee Massacre, while she was researching Daughters of Dakota, a book series about pioneer women. She has researched and brought to light the various ways that the massacre was covered up, saying that she believed that there was a military cover-up of what happened. She has called for a revocation of the medals awarded to the American soldiers who attacked at Wounded Knee for decades.

L. Frank Baum racism Wagner also was one of the pioneers in bringing to light the racist and genocidal messages that L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who wrote in support of the genocide of the Native Americans in Wounded Knee, calling for a "total extermination." Many believe that the publication of his beliefs could have led to the Wounded Knee massacre. Baum's estate apologized for his racism in 2006.

Publications