One of the defining features of Lowell has always been the strength of the women in our workforce. We see it in our history, in our homes, in our schools, offices, and politics. You simply can’t go Inside Lowell without telling the stories of the strong women who come from and come to our city.

In the months and years ahead, this column will be a space to celebrate the strong women of Lowell—and I want your help. I want to hear about them all: the working moms who inspire us, the young women with a vision for our future, the entrepreneur, the elders we honor in our families. Who do you want to see featured in this column?

Strong Lowell Ladies – Where to Start?

When Teddy asked me to write for Inside Lowell, I wanted to focus on amazing women because I would never run out of material. I have met, and continue to meet, so many strong, smart, professional, caring, fun, unique women in our city—I’m related to several of them. But to set the stage, I wanted to start with the OG badasses of Lowell … the mill girls.

I turned to Dr. Sheila Kirschbaum, Director of the Tsongas Industrial History Center (TIHC), an education partnership between UMass Lowell’s School of Education and the National Park Service at Lowell National Historical Park.

Dr. Kirschbaum was gracious with her time and connected me with an expert on the history of Lowell mill girls, Park Ranger Frank Clark, a resident scholar on the badassary of the mill girls. We sat down for a conversation in one of the presentation rooms of the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.

I wanted to understand the spirit of the mill girls who “stepped out of line” and spoke up. Were they a spark for other issues, such as the suffrage movement? I was hoping to hear some good stories that showed women making their mark in Lowell, and I did. But I also discovered something else along the way.

Lowell—as a place—played a big part in shaping these women.

Rabble Rousers

In 1837, Sarah Bagley came to Lowell from a farming village in New Hampshire. She was 31 and just wanted steady work. Seven years later, Sarah became the first president of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA), as her profile on the National Park Service site narrates.

She became an editor for the Voice of Industry, led the first union of working women in the United States, and organized a movement to secure a ten-hour work day (because working for only ten hours was something that needed to be fought for!).

Some condemned Sarah as a rabble rouser. Today we celebrate her resistance to the patriarchal powers-that-were during the industrial revolution. There were thousands and thousands of women, but we only know a handful of their stories, some of which were told in The Lowell Offering.

Frank emphasized the strength in numbers—the sisterhood. So much of the success of the labor movements was due to the thousands of now nameless and faceless women who came from different backgrounds and were willing to accept each other in the name of a common cause and work together. A trend I see echoed throughout the city still.

Finding a Voice

Harriet Hanson Robinson was one those who wrote about her experiences. She found her voice as mill girl when, at just 11 years old, she led her floor in a walk out. She later brought her voice and leadership to the women’s suffrage movement. She is just one example.

In 1845, a series of petitions were sent to the Massachusetts Legislature requesting that they create a law limiting employees to a 10-hour work day (seems reasonable). Vast numbers of workers signed from Lowell, many of whom were women. The numbers forced the legislature to meet about it.

They declared that the women needed to show up in-person to defend their stance, falsely believing that they wouldn’t show (when will people learn to never underestimate the ladies?). But the women were there and showed up. And when their words were skewed in the press, they spoke up.

The legislature didn’t pass the law. Funny thing, though: the politician who chaired this particular committee happened to be from Lowell. He was defeated in the next election. (I interrupt this article for a brief PSA: VOTE on Tuesday, it matters – clearly.)

While women may not have had the right to vote, their voice was growing stronger. Frank and I talked for a long time about specific women from the movement, yet our conversation kept coming back to how Lowell as a space and place created a perfect incubator for these women to find and showcase their strength. Even without direct power, they were a force to be reckoned with.

That’s when Frank said: “What Lowell has … is Lowell.”

Access to Information and Culture

Not many rights existed for women in the 1840s, and suddenly they were thrust into a world where they were making money and could (somewhat) make choices with that money.

There was a whole new world available to women in Lowell. They could attend lectures and hear speeches. There were associations and events and women were actually attending these things side-by-side with men. They were exposed to reading circles, abolitionists, inventors, the library—they had access to information. Lowell represented an awakening.

Frank pointed out that, outside the city, you went from a farmer’s daughter to a farmer’s wife. With the mills, women had a chance—a chance through insanely long hours of manual labor—but a chance. They found an opportunity for independence, freedom of expression, and choice.

Be a Part of Herstory

From the mill girls to my kids’ teachers, my great aunt Rosemary, your colleagues, our city’s leaders, business-owners, bad-asses, artists, scholars, activists, moms, sisters, daughters, and everyone else setting the world on fire—Lowell is filled with women who Take. Care. Of. Business.

Having looked at the past, I’m eager to turn to the present and our future. In the months ahead, I’ll be interviewing many strong women of Lowell. Know one? Please send me their name and why you think they’re a strong woman. They don’t need to be a CEO or millionaire—just a woman who has a story of strength.