Olympia Brown

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Olympia Brown (January 5, 1835 – October 23, 1926) was a famous Women's suffragist.

She was born in Prairie Ronde, Michigan. She attended Mount Holyoke College (then called Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) from 1854-55. She then transferred to, and graduated from, Antioch College in 1860. She was the first woman to graduate at a regularly established theological school (St. Lawrence University) in 1863. In that same year she also became the first woman to achieve full ministerial standing recognized by a denomination, as an ordained Universalist minister. In comparison, Antoinette Brown was ordained as a minister by a Congregationalist Church in 1853, but this was not recognized by her denomination[1]. Brown served as minister to congregations in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Wisconsin. In 1873 she married John Henry Willis.

Olympia Brown was a member of the Woman's Party and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was also the co-founder of the New England Woman Suffrage Association and the president of the Federal Suffrage Association

In 1999 she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.