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2016 Stonewall Honor Book Award by the American Library Association 

2015 Foreward's INDIEFab Book of the Year Awards, Gold Award, Adult Non�ction/ LGBT

 presents the life of a

�ercely independent, fearless woman. Marie Equi (1872-1952) endured

childhood labor in a gritty Massachusetts textile mill before �eeing to a

Western homestead in the 1890s. In her 20s Equi �rst claimed headlines for

publicly horsewhipping a school superintendent over a pay dispute with her

girlfriend. Her commitment to social justice and her willingness to protest

de�ned the rest of her life.

 

Equi self-studied her way into medical school and became one of the �rst

women physicians in the West, a remarkable achievement for a working-

class woman. She earned a medal from the US Army for her heroic

assistance to earthquake victims in 1906 San Francisco. She then engaged in

the progressive, and later radical, struggles of her day – woman su�rage,

workers’ rights, fair pay, and reproductive rights. She mounted soapboxes,

fought with police, and spent a night in jail with birth control advocate

Margaret Sanger. She marched so often with jobless men that the media

referred to them as Equi’s Army. When she protested World War I, the

government convicted her of sedition and sentenced her to San Quentin

prison.

 

The life of Marie Equi resonates with the political dissent and protest of

MARIE EQUI Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions

  H O M E E Q U I B I O P O L I T I C S & P A S S I O N S B L O G H I S T O R Y & AC T I V I S M M O R E . . .

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Reviews Declare  “A riveting page-turner that keeps on giving…seamlessly enriched by attention to time and place. A must read for scholars

and general readers alike”

“Highly recommended.”   

“Extraordinary feat of detective work. “One of the most fascinating characters ever to make Portland home.”

James Anderson, author,  , 2015 “A stirring biography and history that is meticulously researched, passionately and

eloquently rendered and is just a great read.”

 Bettina Aptheker, Professor, Feminist Studies Department, University of Santa Cruz “A marvelous biography”  “meticulous archival research." “In

this well-written, accessible biography of so extraordinary a personage Helquist has made a splendid contribution to both feminist and lesbian

history.” 

by novelist Lisa E. Davis,  Intense and superbly crafted biography"

Oregon ArtsWatch "Thoughtful yet page-turning account...of a remarkably gutsy woman (and) also an era of street-level activism that makes today’s

Occupy protests look like a barn dance.”

Nancy Krieger, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health “A richly detailed and enthralling book. Helquist vividly narrates how this passionate,

keen, and caring woman dared to live openly as a lesbian and to �ght �ercely for social justice, as a physician, su�ragist, abortionist, Wobbly, anti-

imperialist, and self-named “Queen of the Bolsheviks” – enjoy!”

"The biography helps readers appreciate the life and constraints of a vigilant social justice actor who deserves

greater recognition. It also deepens our understanding of the social networks that sustained intersecting movements for free speech, anti-capitalism,

paci�sm, birth control, and women’s citizenship rights."

Available through bookstores and online (Powell's Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble)

and  also in eBook/Kindle and ePUB formats 

today when the obstacles to justice seem so great. Like so many people now,

she struggled to balance her activism with her personal and working

life.  gives an intimate look into the life of both dissent and

a�rmation, leaving readers inspired and motivated.  

MARIE EQUI 

Published by Oregon State University Press

MARIE EQUI "A Page Turner" and "A Must Read"  Western Historical Review 

Midwest Book Review, Wisconsin Book Watch 

Oregon Historical Quarterly 

The Never-Open Desert Diner

The Seattle Lesbian,  Under the Mink “

Paci�c Historical Review 

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