Esther Pohl Lovejoy
Esther Pohl Lovejoy ( Clayson; November 16, 1869 – August 31, 1967) was an American
physician and
public health pioneer,
suffrage activist,
congressional candidate, and a central figure in early efforts to organize international medical relief work.
In 1907, Lovejoy became the first woman appointed to direct a department of health in a major U.S city: the Board of Health in
Portland, Oregon. Lovejoy worked on the women's suffrage campaigns in Oregon in 1906 and 1912, and founded the Everybody's Equal Suffrage League ahead of the 1912 election, when
Oregon became the 7th state to grant women the right to vote. Lovejoy was among the founders of the
Medical Women's International Association and was elected as its first president in 1919. Lovejoy ran for the U.S. Congress in 1920 as the Democratic candidate for Portland’s Third District but was not successful against the sitting Republican. She was awarded the
Elizabeth Blackwell Medal by the
American Medical Women's Association in 1951 and 1957 for contributions to the field of medicine. On July 21, 2012, the Century of Action Committee honored her and three other suffragists—
Harriet Redmond,
Harry Lane, and Martha Cardwell Dalton—by installing new headstones for them at the
Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, where their initial headstones had become overgrown. The installation ceremony included costumed portrayals of the four suffragists and was attended by
Barbara Roberts, a former Oregon governor. This event took place as part of the Century of Action Committee's year-long celebration of 100 years of suffrage for women in Oregon and as part of their efforts to call attention to remaining voting barriers for minorities.
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