Scudder experienced a breakdown in due to the stress of teaching and activism. Her support of striking textile workers in the Lawrence, Massachuetts strike in drew a great deal of criticism and threatened her teaching position. Though she initially supported World War I, she joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in , and by the s she was a pacifist. Active in the settlement house movement as one of the founders of Denison House in Boston, she was also an advocate for the working-class and labor unions.
Career: Born in India to missionary parents, Vida Dutton Scudder and her mother returned to Boston after the untimely death of her father. In , she graduated from Smith College and subsequently went to Oxford University to pursue her postgraduate studies. At Oxford, she attended the lectures of John Ruskin whose consciousness of social problems encouraged her to question and challenge her own privileged life.
Initially involved in Fabian socialism, she later developed an appreciation for the class struggle and economic justice work presented by Karl Marx. In addition to her socialist stance, Scudder was very active in the Episcopal Church and the settlement house movement. Her years as an English literature professor at Wellesley College, where she taught from to , allowed her to delve into the social visions of English writers and poets. She also angered the administration and stimulated students with her courses that spoke to the political economy.
Additionally, like many of her activist contemporaries, Scudder was involved in the settlement house movement. For twenty years, she served as the head of Denison House in Boston. Scudder held to the belief that Socialism and Christianity fit perfectly together. Vida Scudder is described to have been at the epicenter of advanced thought in the church and society.
A few years later, in , she embraced pacifism. We talk much of brotherhood: but our democratic faith seldom penetrates below the surface of our theories or actions. Evolutionary language is always on our lips, but we direct our social activities as if change on broad lines were inconceivable, and we condemned helplessly to minister to the end of time, within the limits of a static stratified society, to the same old needs forever being generated by the same old situation.
Yet we are growing restive. Modern times have not abolished the old idea of sanctity, but they have made a distinct addition to it. For 35 years from until her death in , Scudder lived with author Florence Converse in a lesbian relationship. She was active in the Social Gospel movement, co-founding a Boston settlement house to reduce poverty, promoting Christian socialism and backing trade unions. The image appears at the top of this post.
Haller enjoys expanding the diversity of icons available by creating icons of LGBTQ people and other progressive holy figures as well as traditional saints. Whitner is a gay Christian mystic in process for ministry with the Disciples of Christ. A number of other prominent lesbian humanitarians were leaders in the settlement house movement, including Jane Addams, Lillian Wald and Mabel Hyde Kittredge.
Converse , a New Orleans native and Wellesley graduate, served on the editorial staff of the Atlantic Monthly and The Churchman magazine. Their long-term relationship lasted until Scudder died at age 91 on Oct. The Internet makes it possible to visit to the graves of Scudder and Converse online. Most gracious God, you sent your beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in your church witnesses who, after the example of your servant Vida Dutton Scudder, stand firm in proclaiming the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer LGBTQ people and our allies are covered. This article was originally published on Q Spirit in October , expanded in , and re-checked for accuracy on Oct.
All rights reserved. I enjoyed reading about this social reformer especially in light of the awful inequality in this age. Your email address will not be published.
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