WOMEN IN HISTORY - MOLLY BROWN

Titanic survivor and a woman who was determined to break the rules of "high society"

DATE OF BIRTH

July 18,1867

PLACE OF BIRTH

Hannibal, Missouri

DATE OF DEATH

October 26, 1932

PLACE OF DEATH

New York, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Margaret "Maggie" Tobin Brown was not born into wealth. She was the daughter of Irish immigrants and had a brother, Daniel. As a teenager, Margaret moved to Leadville, Colorado where her brother worked in the mines and she worked in a mercantile store. She married James Joseph Brown in 1886 and the couple moved to neighboring Stumpftown where they began a soup kitchen for mining families. It was here that Margaret first became involved with the women's suffrage movement.

EDUCATION

Margaret attended elementary school in Hannibal; her aunt was the administrator of the school. In 1901 Margaret attended the Carnegie Institute to study language and literature. After the sinking of the Titanic, Margaret studied acting in Paris and New York in the Sarah Bernhard style.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Margaret Brown is widely known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," a woman famous for surviving the sinking of the Titanic. She was also an actress, an activist and was a devoted philanthropist. Her husband started as a miner; moved up to superintendent; and then gained his fortune by inventing a method to reach the gold at the very bottom of mines. In 1894 the Browns moved to Denver and became active in its philanthropic and political circles: Margaret was one of the founders of the Denver Woman's Club which assisted women and children and also worked to begin one of the first juvenile courts in the country. Shortly after she attempted to gain a seat in Congress, even before women received the right to vote.

While the Browns were in Egypt in 1912, they learned that their grandson was ill; Margaret booked her seat on the Titantic to go to him. Margaret's heart and fluency in languages allowed her to aid her fellow passengers during the sinking of the Titanic. The French Legion of Honour recognized Margaret in 1932 by awarding her for her efforts during the sinking and her work with miners and women and children.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Blos, Joan, W. The Heroine of the Titanic: a Tale Both True and Otherwise of the Life of Molly Brown. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1991. [Lakewood Public Library jBIO Brown]
  • Iversen, Kristen. Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. 1999 [Cleveland Public Library]
  • Landau, Elaine. Heroine of the Titanic: the Real Unsinkable Molly Brown. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. [Lakewood Public Library jBIO Brown]

WEBSITES