Mary Elizabeth Lease was a political activist, and was very involved in the suffrage movement. She was born to Irish immigrants in 1853, and moved to Kansas to teach when she was twenty years old. Three years after moving she married Charles Lease, who was a farmer. The two had four children together and moved to Witchita.
Mary Lease became involved in the Populist Party, or the People's Party. She believed in most everything that the people of that party believed in, and she began to show greater support for it. She spoke for the farmers about how they were getting used by the railroads and they had higher mortgage rates, and many people liked to listen to her. She joined the Farmers' Alliance movement, in which she spoke many times for.She was known to some people as an unskilled speaker, and many people thought she was foul-mouthed and shouldn't speak out about things any longer. People criticized her quite frequently. People called her Mary Yellin for raising a lot of controversary. As no one can deny, she was a great speaker, even if they didn't agree with what she was saying. She made over 160 speeches.
I think that Mary Elizabeth Lease was a very important person in history, especially for women. She showed that even if you are a woman, you can speak out for what you believe in. She was an excellent speaker, who many people loved to listen to. She was educated and knew what she was talking about and had many valid points. Mary didn't care what people thought of her, she was going to speak for what she believed, and that is very admirable. I think she was a very brave woman, and she did a lot of good.-Sarah Konz
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