Life Story: Ernestine Rose (1810-1892)

Ernestine Louise Potowska was born on January 13, 1810 in Piotrkow Tribunalski, a Polish city controlled by the King of Prussia. She was the only child of Rabbi Potowski. Her mother was the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Ernestine never gave more specific details about her parents, and their names have not been found in existing records.

Ernestine grew up in a vibrant Jewish community. When she was young, her father made the unusual choice to teach her to read Hebrew and study the Torah, which was traditionally forbidden for Jewish girls. As Ernestine grew older, she began to question her father and his teachings. She started to wonder whether religion was good for people, and whether there was a god. Instead of engaging with Ernestine, Rabbi Potowski told her that girls needed to accept and believe in their faith without question. Ernestine thought this was unfair. She knew that boys were encouraged to think and ask questions. She later said this was the moment she became a feminist. 

Ernestine’s mother died when she was about 15 years old. She left all of her money to Ernestine, making her daughter an independently wealthy woman at a young age. Rabbi Potowski knew his daughter was a radical thinker, and he wanted to cement her place in the Jewish community of Piotrkow Tribunalski. He arranged a marriage for Ernestine without asking her and promised her fiancé that he would receive all of Ernestine’s inheritance even if she refused to marry him. Ernestine was furious when she discovered what her father had done. She had no interest in marrying the man her father chose for her, and she did not want to lose her inheritance to an unfair deal. She hired a sled and took a 60 mile journey to argue her case in court. When the sled broke down in the middle of the night, she insisted the driver keep going, because she did not want to miss her court appointment. Ernestine won her case, but when she arrived back in Piotrkow Tribunalski she learned that her father had married a teenage girl. Ernestine decided she could no longer live with her father. She gave him some of her inheritance and left Piotrkow Tribunalski forever.

Ernestine moved to Berlin, where she settled in a liberal Jewish community and read all the latest books about philosophy, politics, society, and government. During this time, Ernestine decided that she was an atheist and became a supporter of the free thought movement, which argued that people should give up religion to achieve true liberation. After two years in Berlin, Ernestine moved to Paris, where she witnessed a people’s revolution that prevented the return of absolute monarchy. She was inspired by what the people of Paris accomplished. But Ernestine did not find her calling until she moved to England and met Robert Owen in 1832. 

Robert Owen was a radical and a factory owner. He believed that people needed social support in order to lead happy, healthy, and productive lives. He pioneered providing free education for the working class, and championed workers causes in government. But most importantly for Ernestine, Robert wanted to liberate women from the expectations they had been assigned by society. Ernestine was inspired by Robert’s radical vision for society. Robert recognized Ernestine’s intelligence and encouraged her to begin speaking at meetings of his followers. Public speaking was beyond the bounds of proper women’s behavior in the 1800s, but Ernestine was not deterred. She spoke passionately about her beliefs and began to build a reputation as a leading speaker of the free thought movement. 

Ernestine met William Rose during one of her speaking engagements. William was a trained silversmith who also supported the causes of worker’s liberation, women’s equality, and free thought. The two fell in love and married in 1836. Ernestine and William knew that marriage in England put women at a legal and economic disadvantage, so instead of having a traditional ceremony they hired a notary to witness them sign a marriage contract they wrote together. Soon after their marriage, the Roses moved to New York City. Ernestine gave birth to two babies, but both died in infancy.

In New York City, Ernestine continued to speak publically about causes that mattered to her. Audiences valued her outsider perspective as an immigrant to the U.S. Ernestine was the only woman who spoke publicly about the free thought movement. She also became an outspoken champion of abolition, a dangerous topic for women to discuss publicly. Her passionate speeches caught the attention of Frederick Douglass, and the two became close friends. 

Ernestine made her greatest impact in the field of women’s rights. She went door to door to get signatures for a petition to pass a law to grant married women the right to own property. She spoke passionately about her belief that there was no biological distinction between the sexes, and that if women were given the same education and opportunities as men, they could achieve great things. Through her touring, she met other important leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. Ernestine was one of the organizers of the first National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850, which brought hundreds of people together to discuss how to advance the cause of women’s rights. 

At the National Women’s Rights Convention of 1851, Ernestine gave a rousing speech that was hailed as a landmark achievement of the movement. With the enthusiastic support of her husband, Ernestine toured all over the U.S. speaking on the topics of free thought, abolition, and women’s equality. Her success earned her the nickname “Queen of the Platform.” But she was the only person who believed that free thought, abolition, and women’s rights advocates should work together to advance their causes. Other leaders of the free thought movement did not like that Ernestine wanted them to speak out against slavery. Women’s rights advocates were appalled that Ernestine believed that the first step toward true equality for women was giving up religion. And Ernestine was the only abolitionist who publicly declared that the U.S. should break up over the question of slavery. Ernestine’s radicalism drew increasingly nasty attacks from her political enemies and allies alike.

The outbreak of the Civil War upended Ernestine’s life. The social disruption and inflation brought on by the war caused a sharp rise in anti-semitism, even in the radical communities Ernestine was a part of. Ernestine found herself defending a religion she did not believe in to try to prevent acts of violence against American Jews. But the most discouraging outcome of the war for Ernestine was that women’s groups abandoned their cause for the duration of the war. When the war ended, women’s rights advocates were sharply divided on the question of race. The movement Ernestine once championed had changed drastically, and Ernestine did not like the direction in which it was going.

Ernestine and William decided to travel to Europe in 1869 in the hopes that a vacation would help Ernestine recover from health issues brought on by her many years of touring. But they never returned to the U.S. They settled in England, where Ernestine continued to champion the causes of women’s rights, free thought, and racial justice until her death in 1892.

• abolition: The movement to end the practice of slavery in the U.S.
• absolute monarchy: A form of government where a king or queen has total control.
• anti-semitism: Prejudice against Jewish people.
• atheist: A person who does not believe in the existence of god(s).
• feminist: A person who supports the equality of women.
• free thought: A movement that encouraged people to cast off religious teaching and rely on their own reason.
• Hebrew: Language used by Jewish people.
• notary: A person who can certify contracts.
• petition: A formal written request, usually signed by many people to signal their support of the request.
• rabbi: Jewish religious leader.
• Torah: Name for the first five books of the Jewish holy text.