Historica Wiki
Advertisement
Olive Calhoon

Olive Calhoon (1843-1899) was an American women's rights activist who was active in Louisiana during the late 19th century. She was murdered by the Braithwaite family in 1899.

Biography[]

Olive Calhoon was born in Rhodes, Allen Parish, Louisiana in 1843, and she became a women's rights activist following the American Civil War. By the 1890s, she and Dorothea Wicklow emerged as the leaders of the suffragist movement in Louisiana, although the social conservatism of the Solid South led to the movement receiving significant pushback from the local Democratic political machines. By 1899, the movement had spread to smaller towns such as Rhodes, where Calhoon held several demonstrations, including driving a carriage down Main Street as women on the carriage sang about women empowerment. These rallies were often heckled both by the men of the town and by conservative women who held to their traditionalist family values, and, at one rally, Calhoon's follower Penelope Braithwaite brought along a bodyguard, Arthur Morgan, whom Calhoon recruited to slowly drive the carriage to the town bank as the suffragists sang their songs for the townspeople to hear. The Braithwaite family was angered to hear of Penelope's involvement with the suffragists, so they had Calhoon murdered to punish her.

Advertisement