E. Sylvia Pankhurst collection

1935-1937

Born in Manchester, England, in 1882, Sylvia Pankhurst was the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, a champion of woman suffrage who became active in the late 1880s. With her mother and older sister, Christabel, Pankhurst helped found the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, a political organization dedicated to achieving equality between the sexes, with an emphasis on female enfranchisement. In 1914, Pankhurst was expelled from the WSPU for her insistence on involving working-class women in the suffrage movement; her mother and sister felt that suffrage could best be achieved through the efforts of middle-class women like themselves. From her base in the poor East End of London, Pankhurst ran the East London Federation of the Suffragettes (ELFS) and published a working-class women's paper, the Woman's Dreadnought, which later became Workers' Dreadnought. She became regarded as a leader of working-class men and women and convinced a few labor organizations to oppose the war. In 1935, she campaigned vigorously against the invasion of Ethiopia by Fascist Italy and founded The New Times and Ethiopia News to publicize the plight of the Ethiopians and other victims of fascism. She later helped settle Jewish refugees from Germany. In 1956, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie invited her to live in Ethiopia; she accepted and founded the Ethiopia Observer, which she edited for four years. Pankhurst died on September 27, 1960, and was given a state funeral by the Ethiopian government in recognition of her service to the country. This collection consists of letters between Ethel Wieland Archer, C. W. Martin (Ethiopian Minister), and Sylvia Pankhurst, mostly about donations to the Ethiopian Defense Fund and a publication sponsored by Pankhurst. Also included are several cashed checks from Ethel Wieland Archer and a draft of an article on the war in Ethiopia.