The following is republished with permission from WAPUSH Wednesday, part of the campaign to get a Women’s AP US History course in high schools. It was written by Serene Williams.
Born: Unknown (1800s), United States
Died: 1924
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Agnes Hosmer
Suffragist, Leader of the National Woman’s Party in Massachusetts
Agnes H. Morey was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement in the state of Massachusetts as well as a national organizer for the National Woman’s Party (NWP) from Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the mother of suffragist Katherine Morey and was married to businessman Mr. Walter G. Morey. An early member of the NWP, she was arrested after picketing November 10, 1917 and received a sentence of 30 days at a district jail and at the Occoquan workhouse. Morey was detained in prison during the infamous night of terror and according to Historian Linda Ford, “The terror began immediately when two soldiers attacked the picketing Boston matron Agnes Morey, jabbing her broken, splintered banner pole between her eyes.”
After her prison sentence was served Morey took part in the 1919 “prison special” tour of women who toured across the country wearing the clothes they wore when they had served time in prison for fighting for the right to vote. It was noted in The Topeka Daily Capital that year that Morey was a citizen of Kansas as she moved to the state temporarily to establish citizenship so she and her daughter, Katherine Morey, could vote. In 1921, Morey gave a speech in Boston calling on the U.S. government to give women full legal equality as she called attention to the fact that they were not able to be hired equally for government jobs.
Agnes played a prominent role in the NWP after the ratification of the 19th Amendment and presided over the 1923 conference to introduce the Equal Rights Amendment in Seneca Falls. She remained active in the campaign for women’s rights until she died in 1924.
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Works cited
Arizona Daily Star. “Eastern Suffragists Invade Old Pueblo, Tuscans Hold Open House for Envoys.” April 21, 1916.
The Boston Globe. “Funeral Services Today for Ms. Agnes Morey.” March 30, 1924.
The Boston Globe. “Mrs. Agnes Morey Dies in Brookline.” March 29, 1924.
The Boston Globe. “Table Gossip.” May 1, 1921.
The Buffalo News. “Pageant Marks March of Women to ‘Ideal State.'” June 21, 1923.
Evening Express. “Will Wed Woman’s Party Chairman: Former Portlander Met His Fiancee in Washington.” May 23, 1921.
Lunardini, Christine. From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, 1910–1928, New York University, 2000.
Stevens, Doris, and Angela P. Dodson. Jailed for Freedom : a First-person Account of the Militant Fight for Women’s Rights. 100th ed. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2020.
The Topeka Daily Capital. “Kansas Women Watching Progress of Amendment.” July 20, 1919.
Wheeler, Marjorie Spruill. One Woman One Vote : Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement. Troutdale, Or.: NewSage Press, 1996.