The New Woman in a World of Conservatives: Hannah Patterson, Wilson College and Woman’s Suffrage

Also part of Women’s History Month Lecture Series Sesquicentennial Edition

Hannah Patterson attended Wilson College just as the modern educated, athletic and active “New Woman” was challenging Victorian era patriarchy. Patterson was a national figure in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and in organizing women as the second line of defense during World War I. During all of this, she remained connected to Wilson College, serving as president of the Alumnae Association and as a college trustee for twenty years.

Amy Ensley is the Director of the Hankey Center for the History of Women’s Education. Her research interests include women’s history in the United States during the post-Civil War era through the Women’s Rights Movement of the 1970s.