Good morning, it’s Thursday, March 11, 2021. One year ago today, as part of a Women’s History Month series curated by Dana Rubin, RCP readers were treated to the wisdom of journalist and author Lillie Devereux Blake. Titled “A Woman Spoke Today,” the series featured a cross section of addresses made by women at pivotal historical points.
Ms. Blake’s came in the spring of 1883 in response to lectures by Morgan Dix, rector of Trinity Church in Manhattan and a trustee of Columbia University. Dix’s weekly homilies imparted his vision of “Christian womanhood.” Finding this view of women’s roles far too constricting, Blake rented her own meeting hall and on four consecutive Sunday evenings she gave a rebuttal to “the haughty rector of Trinity.”