The year was 1893. Marie Equi had fled New Bedford, Massachusetts to an Oregon homestead with her first longtime woman companion, a teacher named Bessie Holcomb. The school superintendent, also a Southern Baptist minister, had not paid her full salary, so Equi, 21, took a horsewhip and went to his downtown office, daring him to come outside. At first he refused, but then he tried to escape into the crowd unnoticed.
Intercepted by Equi, she whacked him on the shoulder with the whip while the crowd cheered her on, as he was regarded as a scoundrel. The next day a newspaper reporter interviewed the two women for a feature article that became one of the first public accounts of women living together as a same-sex couple in the west, with Equi becoming the first well-known lesbian in Oregon.
Equi later came to San Francisco to help with relief efforts after the devastating 1906 earthquake.
Reading an online account about this incident by a gay Portland historian inspired local journalist and public historian Michael Helquist, 66, to devote 10 years toward writing his new biography, Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions (Oregon State University Press).
Now launching a book tour both in the Bay Area and in Oregon, Helquist spoke with the Bay Area Reporter about why he was attracted to such a well-known lesbian figure in her own time who is forgotten today.
"She was a passionate woman devoting massive energy to issues and relationships about which she cared, always ready to mount a soapbox," Helquist said. "She was an outsider both because of the causes she supported, her radical politics, and being a lesbian, a sexual outlaw. She broke boundaries in all areas of her life. There is very little gay and lesbian history for this time period in the west �" 1890s-1920 �" and I wanted to make a contribution by giving voice to this significant pioneer."
Equi self-studied her way into a San Francisco medical school and obtained her license in Portland to become one of the first practicing woman physicians in the Pacific Northwest (everyone calling her "Doc"), leveraging her professional status to fight for women's suffrage, labor rights, reproductive freedom, a living wage, affordable housing, and an overhaul of the criminal justice system, nearly a century ago.
Raised by working class parents in a manufacturing town, Equi's parents insisted she leave high school after one year and take a textile job to support the family. She saw the dreadful working conditions �" with so much lint in the air workers would vomit cotton balls �" and low wages. She was also sensitized to the plight of the poor and marginalized through her father inviting striking men over for dinner and hearing their heartbreaking tales of survival. She was radicalized when policemen hit her on the head during her first demonstration for worker's rights.
One of Helquist's favorite stories about her was at a cannery strike with women picketing low wages and being beaten by the cops. Equi announced to newspapers that she had access to a deadly virus (not true) that caused a slow painful death. At her next demonstration to protect herself, she would dip her hatpin into the virus and would stab any policeman who threatened her.
Quake relief
Because San Francisco was her favorite city, when word reached Portland (which had many social and business connections) of the devastating 1906 earthquake, she was the only woman physician who volunteered to join a medical relief train. For two weeks at an army hospital in the Presidio she presided over the Oregon ward, saving lives. She received public praise from the governor, the mayor, and a medal and commendation from the U.S. Army. She also provided entertaining stories to the Oregon press of her adventures, such as rescuing patients in a wheelchair during a fire.
A fierce advocate for economic and social justice, especially for the unemployed, but never an ideologue, the Oregonian newspaper in 1913 declared her "dangerously insane," to which she replied: "It was beyond the imagination of these people, who repeatedly attacked me, that a professional woman of established practice and reputation, of some money and high standing in the community could put these aside and get out and work for her unfortunate sisters and brothers �" therefore I must be insane."
She took the risk and provided abortions, illegal at the time, having witnessed her mother having to care for 11 children on starvation wages. Equi also distributed birth control information, also illegal, and met famed advocate Margaret Sanger when she visited Portland. They spent the night in jail together.
Equi fell in love with Sanger, saving their letters, which left no doubt about their physical affection for each other. She soon met a younger woman, Harriet Speckart, who became the love of her life and the two women adopted and raised a baby daughter, Mary Equi, an unheard of situation in the 1910s.
Equi protested the U.S. entry into World War I, opposing capitalists pressing the country into war to make a huge profit. Under the Espionage Acts passed by Congress and restricting free speech during war, she was convicted of sedition and sentenced to three years at San Quentin prison. However, she appealed to President Woodrow Wilson to pardon her.
She made an enemy of J. Edgar Hoover, then in the Justice Department's War Emergency Division, who convinced the attorney general not to "give her a break, as if it would look like the government had succumbed to this bold, degenerate lesbian."
Wilson commuted her sentence to one year and she served 10 months. Ironically, because all of her personal papers were destroyed after her death in 1952, much of what is known about Equi during this WWI period is due to the eight Department of Justice agents who provided around the clock surveillance (even undercover), screening her prison correspondence, including letters to her 5-year-old daughter.
Equi never quite recovered from her imprisonment, but for the rest of her life she always looked out for the underdog. Her radical politics (later involving communism but never doctrinaire) and transgressive sexuality have kept her hidden from history.
Because of the advocacy of gay historians, her name is included in the memorial Women of Honor walk in downtown Portland.
"More than an Oregonian character, she is a model and inspiration of someone who achieved independence despite considerable odds and obstacles, staying true to her beliefs at great risk to her health and well-being," Helquist said. "She provides a window into lesbian life during this period, as well as a glimpse on how an outsider engaged in the social and economic issues of her time, the very same issues we struggle with today. Like these controversies she was complicated but showed courage under fire and provides a model of what activists must do to take care of themselves. She refused to compromise her principles in the face of enormous opposition and paid a steep price for living by her convictions. The LGBTQ community has much to be proud of in Marie Equi."
Michael Helquist will hold a book launch event Wednesday, September 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the McRoskey Mattress Company, 1687 Market Street, third floor, presented by Green Arcade Books.