May Wright Sewall

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May Wright Sewall (1844 – 1920) was a feminist, educator, and lecturer.

She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. In 1866, Sewall earned a bachelor's degree, and in 1868 she earned a master's degree, from North Western Female College. In 1872, Sewall married Edwin W. Thompson and lived in Indianapolis with him. Three years later, Thompson died in 1875. Sewall became interested in woman suffrage. She attended a national convention in 1878. In 1880, Sewall married Theodore Lovett Sewall, who was head of a Boys' Classical School. With her husband, She founded and headed the Girls' Classical School. For years it was one of the three leading girls' schools in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sewall was also a charter member of the Art Association of Indianapolis, the Propylaeum, and the Contemporary Club. Throughout her life she helped in campaigns for female suffrage in various Midwest states. Beginning in the 1890s, Sewall carried her feminist interests further abroad. She was elected president of the National Congress of Women in 1891 and of the International Congress of Women in 1899. She combined this activity with working for peace. In 1904, Sewall became chairman of the ICW standing committee on peace and arbitration. In 1915, Sewall chaired an Organized Conference of Women Workers to Promote Peace. In 1915, She was a member of Henry Ford's Peace Expedition. In 1907, Sewall sold the Girls Classical School to Anna Weaver. After she sold the school, Sewall depended for income mainly on lecturing, on women's rights, on peace and arbitration, and on psychic research because she was disappointed at the amount she received from Weaver. Psychic research had been one of her interests since the 1880s, and she moved to Eliot, Maine, where there was a center on the subject. In 1920, Sewall wrote a book on her psychic experiences, "Neither Dead Nor Sleeping". She also wrote three more books. She wrote: "The Higher Education of Women", on "The Woman Suffrage Movement in Indiana", and on "Women, World War and Permanent Peace". The nineteenth Amendment was ratified, a month after her death.^[1]