Amelia Bloomer

Reformer, born in Homer, New York, USA. She wrote on current affairs for her husband's newspaper before founding and editing Lily (1849–55), a temperance journal that, under the influence of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, also championed women's rights. In Lily her public defence of women's adopting a daring outfit of full trousers under a short skirt became a national cause célèbre, and the costume was nicknamed ‘bloomers’. After she moved to Iowa (1855), her local activism was partly responsible for that state's 1873 equal rights legislation.

Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818—December 30, 1894) was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. She presented her views in her own monthly paper, The Lily, which she began publishing in 1849. When Amelia was 22, she married a lawyer by the name of Dexter Bloomer. One of the major causes promoted by Amelia was a change in dress standards for women so that they would be less restrictive. She moved to Iowa in 1852, and from 1871 until 1873, Amelia served as president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association. She died at Council Bluffs, Iowa.