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Margaret Higgins Sanger

Margaret Higgins Sanger
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Bernard Sanders, 1906 - 1967
Sitter
Margaret Higgins Sanger, 14 Sep 1879 - 6 Sep 1966
Date
1932
Type
Print
Medium
Drypoint on paper
Dimensions
Image (plate mark): 17.5 x 12.5 cm. (6 7/8 x 4 15/16")
Sheet: 29.1 x 25.5 cm.
Topic
Illustration
Margaret Higgins Sanger: Female
Margaret Higgins Sanger: Journalism and Media\Magazine publisher
Margaret Higgins Sanger: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Social reformer
Margaret Higgins Sanger: Medicine and Health\Nurse
Margaret Higgins Sanger: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist\Birth control advocate
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.99.42.2
Exhibition Label
Born Corning, New York
The physical and mental toll exacted on women by frequent childbirth, miscarriage, and self-induced abortion deeply affected Margaret Sanger, who during the early 1900s worked as a visiting nurse with immigrant communities in New York City’s Lower East Side. Providing information about and access to contraception was forbidden by the 1873 Comstock Act, but Sanger continued educating women through different publications. She founded the American Birth Control League in 1921.
Sanger’s association with the eugenicist movement, which was embraced by many Progressive Era figures, has greatly impacted her legacy. Eugenicists looked to birth control, including sterilization, as a means to direct the genetic and racial makeup of the population of the United States.
This drypoint (similar to an engraving) was made for the 1932 publication Adventurous Americans, edited by the journalist and activist Devere Allen. In addition to Sanger, Allen featured Jane Addams, John Dewey, and W. E. B. Du Bois, among others.
Nacida en Corning, Nueva York
Los estragos físicos y mentales causados a las mujeres por los frecuentes partos y los abortos espontáneos o provocados conmovieron a Margaret Sanger, quien a principios del siglo XX fue enfermera visitante en comunidades de inmigrantes del Lower East Side en Nueva York. Desde 1873, la Ley de Comstock prohibía ofrecer información sobre medidas anticonceptivas, o acceso a ellas, pero Sanger siguió educando a las mujeres a través de varias publicaciones. En 1921 fundó la Liga Estadounidense para el Control de la Natalidad.
La conexión de Sanger con el movimiento eugenista, apoyado por muchas figuras de la Era Progresista, ha afectado en gran medida su legado. Los eugenistas veían el control de la natalidad, incluida la esterilización, como un medio de orientar la composición genética y racial de la población.
Este grabado a punta seca se creó para el libro de 1932 Estadounidenses osados, editado por el periodista y activista Devere Allen. Allen incluyó también a Jane Addams, John Dewey y W. E. B. Du Bois, entre otros.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view